The Ones Left Behind
by angelpie2000
Summary: After being enslaved for six years in the End, one girl has finally escaped. The catch? The boy she was escaping with is still stuck there, and the Overworld she once knew has changed. It's up to her to find the remnants of a broken group and reassemble them to overthrow the demon who now rules the land. The past may be the key... T for violence, swearing, romance, and Team Crafted
1. Prologue

**Hello peepsles! This is Angel from Angelpie2000, and this is one of my first fanfics! I hope you guys enjoy this! Since this is me writing this, you can expect long words, depressing shit, and lots of conveniently timed interruptions that save me from writing too much boring detail! Don't be afraid to let me know all your thoughts on this. A couple of notes on the story, though: First off, even though this is a TC story, it is not really funny, and quite frankly, it can be downright dark and depressing at times, so if you mind that, stop reading now and be on your merry little way. I won't be too offended. The whole prologue takes place three years before the main story. The story is set in Minecraft. I know Seto got kicked out of Team Crafted, but in my world, that never happened. I'm also sorry if any of the characters seem OOC, but I didn't do a huge amount of stalking (*cough*cough*Cat*cough*cough*) just for the sake of portraying the youtubers accurately, and also, in the story, they have been affected by some very traumatic events which might cause their personalities to change. It just so happens that this is MY fanfic. So there. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, let me know in the reviews! ON TO THE STORY!**

**Disclaimer: If you think I own anything besides my own OCs and my plot, then you, my friend, are mistaken. Please don't sue me.**

Prologue

~All things material must come to an end; it is only the waiting that is hard~

? POV

_The twins ran through the forest. One girl had black hair, and the other had silver hair. They were young, about thirteen years old, and they were scared. Fires raged behind them as they left their family and their home behind them. The one with black hair slowed to a stop as they reached a clearing. The one with silver hair turned to look at her sister. "C'mon, Lexia! We've gotta get out of here!" called the one with the silver hair. _

_"I've got to rest," panted the one named Lexia. _

_"We don't have time!" cried the other, "They'll be here any second."_

_A tall shadow appeared behind Lexia, backlit against the flaming night sky. "Look out!" yelled the one with silver hair. It was too late. The shadowy figure, now recognizable as an enderman, grabbed Lexia by her arm. She punched and kicked at it, but to no avail. "Help me, Shadin!" she screamed to her sister. Shadin knew it would be no use. She had lost her sword in the earlier battle. With tears in her eyes and shame in her heart, Shadin turned and sprinted away from her still-crying sister._

I woke up screaming from my nightmare. It was the same one that plagued me every night. I didn't need to relive that memory every time I slept. My mind just hates me, I guess. It had been three years since I came here. Where, you ask? The End. Yes, I am Lexia, as in the Lexia from that dream, and I hated this place with every fiber of my being.

Three years of slavery. Three years of monotony. Three years in that place, and I was about to go insane. Every day was the same: wake up, wait to be taken by the endermen to the mine they had going, work all day punching at endstone, looking for purple gems, go back to the cells, eat the slop I'm given, sleep. There were other prisoners, but they tended to avoid me, probably in part because of my slightly pointed ears and my eyes. My right eye was dark blue, and my left eye was split between silver and red. That came from an accident with magic when I was really young. Not that it mattered anymore. Not here, in this place full of stupid, cruel people. No one had ever spoken a word to me in that place, although they certainly did talk about me behind my back, calling me things like "Demonspawn" or "Monster Girl." They all stayed in their own little cliques, the adults with adults, girly girls with girly girls, etc. They were all jerks. Not one person ever payed attention to me except to make an effort to avoid me or to watch as I was beaten publicly by the endermen as an example to all of them. No one, that is, until that one fateful day.

I remember the day clearly: it was a dark morning, as it always was, since there is no sun in the End. I had been woken up by the Endermen at some ungodly hour, as usual. As the other prisoners and I were being led out to the cold, menacing mines, another new prisoner was being led to the group. Having a new member of our group of around three hundred slaves wasn't unusual, but this one was different. Normally, the newly captured person was breaking down and weeping by this point, (heaven knows I did) but this boy was silently standing there with his fists clenched and rage in his eyes. There was a whole squad of Endermen surrounding him, instead of the usual two. He had long brown hair that covered one of his maroon eyes. He was wearing the standard prisoner garb: an ill-fitting white t-shirt with gray pants, same as the rest of us. I think the clothes were designed for Endermen, even though they don't actually wear clothes. I will never understand those creatures.

ANYWAY! The squad of Endermen brought the boy over to the rest of our group, and his hatred for the Endermen was palpable. Not that the rest of us DIDN'T hate the Endermen, it's just that we were better at hiding it. He came to a stop. Some of the other little cliques, mostly the girls, started whispering among themselves, but an enderman put a stop to that by clawing the face of one who was talking. I think her name was Alice. The boy, who was about my age, looked at all of us and noticed that everyone was in a little group except for me. His eyes met mine, and I could see a ghost of a smile appear on his face. He walked over to stand by me , which caused another bout of whispering. I silently shook my head, trying to warn him away. He came to stand by me anyway. The six Endermen that guided him to our group joined the ranks of our other guards.

The boy nudged my shoulder as we continued walking toward the mine. "What's your name?" he asked. I looked at him strangely. No one ever wanted to talk to me. I turned and continued walking. He poked my shoulder. "Did you hear me?" he asked quietly. I nodded almost imperceptibly. "Lexia," I whispered. That was the first word I had spoken in almost three years. He smiled a bit. He had a slightly lopsided smile, and the effect was overall attractive. "My name's Deadlox, but you can call me Ty," he said in a low voice.

We reached the entrance to the cavern. The boy named Ty followed me in. I walked toward the branch that I usually mined in. I looked behind me. Ty was still following. I had no clue why. I whirled on him. "Why are you following me?" I asked.

"I have no idea what we're doing here, and I thought you could maybe explain," he replied.

"You could just as easily ask someone else."

"But I'm asking you."

I sighed. "Sorry to break it to you, but I'm not really a person you want to be associated with around here, and, personally, I don't really mind it." I turned and started walking again. Ty shrugged and followed me. Whatever. His choices, his consequences. As we walked, he pestered me with questions.

"What are we doing here?"

"Mining these purple gems," I said, pointing to a small pile of violet stones sitting beside a miner as we passed them by.

"Why?"

"Don't know."

"I get the feeling that you don't like me very much."

I stopped and sighed. "It's not that I don't like you, it's that I don't know why you would want to follow me. Plus, I kinda have trust issues. Don't take it the wrong way, I'm glad to have someone to talk to, but I have some bad history, so I'm sorry if I seem, well, distant at times." I continued walking. He seemed ok with that answer and soon resumed asking questions as we walked through the shaft.

"What do you use to mine?"

"Hands." He winced at that.

"Where are we going?"

"My special area that no one else goes to."

"Why do they never go there?"

"It's dark."

"That's a stupid reason."

I smiled a bit and rolled my eyes. "Tell me about it."

I halted him in front of a dark crevice. "This is our stop." I climbed into the pitch black cave and Deadlox followed. I strode over to a wall and began tapping on it as I walked. Ty picked his way carefully across the rocks over to where I was. I guess I had forgotten that he probably didn't have nearly as good night vision as I did. Having a magically altered eye did have its perks. "What are you doing?" he asked.

"Tapping the walls to find hollow spots where the crystals are usually found." I answered. He nodded in understanding.

"How long have you been here?" he asked.

"About three years."

"Wow... That's gotta be tough."

I nodded sadly. "You have no idea, " I

said quietly, thinking of my solitude and of all the people I missed, the ones I left behind. Thinking of my brother, back in the Overworld, who was exiled by my father, who was the leader of my old village. My father had been a no-nonsense kinda guy, and when he found my brother using magic, he sent him away. This made me think of my parents, both dead.

Soon following were thoughts of Shadin, my twin sister, who left me behind...

Tears flooded my eyes. Ty noticed. "Was it something I said?" I shook my head. Wiping away my tears, I continued tapping the wall. There was the sound of something happening in the main caverns.

Ty opened his mouth to say something, but I shushed him. I heard something. It was a sound I knew well, and one I had learned to fear. People were shouting, and sounds of fighting echoed in the distance.

There was a riot.

I swore. "Rioting! They'll kill us!" I remembered last time there was a riot. People coughing in tear gas, buried under rubble while explosions raged around them. I nearly died, and I was one of the lucky ones.

Survival instincts took over. I turned and ran deeper into the cavern. Fear clouded my thoughts. I sprinted for the one place that they wouldn't look for me: one of the obsidian towers. What a lot of people don't know is that the towers are hollow and you can get into them through tunnels underneath the surface of the End. The narrow passageway I was in dead ended in a ladder. I climbed with the intensity of a mad person, and when I made it to the top landing, I collapsed into total mental breakdown mode. I sobbed into my hands as memories resurfaced, dug out by my terror. Painful memories from my past flashed before my eyes, and I became vaguely aware of warm arms holding me awkwardly and a voice speaking soothing words. Ty. I felt horrible. I had just run off and left him to fend for himself. He must have followed me. His embrace was kind, yet somewhat awkward at the same time. He wiped away my tears and calmed me down. When he finally let me go, I told him quietly about what usually happened to quell the riots and apologized profusely for leaving him behind. He stunned me by thanking me for saving his butt by running. "If you hadn't run, I would probably be stuck under a mound of endstone, from what you've told me."

"No problem,"I said. We stood there awkwardly for a few seconds.

"If you don't mind me asking, what's your story?" I asked.

"It's a bit long," he replied.

"I'm not going anywhere for a while." I sat down on the obsidian and looked out across the surface of the End. Ty sat a few feet away from me.

We stayed there on the top of that tower for a while, until at least two hours after the riot quieted down. While we were up there, he told me stories. Stories about him and his friends, a group called "Team Crafted." Apparently they were kinda a big thing in the Overworld. I guess you miss a lot when you spend three years trapped in this hellhole. The stories he told made me laugh for the first time in years. He talked about Sky, or Adam, the one who loved something called Butter; Quentin, the fish-amphibian-thing; Jerome, the fun-loving, axe-wielding bacca; Mitch, the champion of something called "the Hunger Games"; Jason, the spaceman; Ian, the crazy one who loves cakes; and Seto, the shy sorcerer who never revealed his real name to the team. He talked about how they all fought squids and had fun. He talked about parkour and something called "cops and robbers" and a bunch of minigames. Deadlox ended off about how their base was attacked by mobs and he was taken by an enderman, but no one saw that that was where he disappeared to. By the end of the stories,I was loosening up a bit and laughing more, but I still refused to talk about my past. Ty and I made a promise that day: we would escape and make it back to Team Crafted, or we would die trying.

** So there you have it: the prologue. I hope you enjoyed, and please leave some constructive criticism! I want to make this better! Updating might be erratic since I share this profile with my two best friends. (Because of this, PMing might not be a good idea since I probably won't be the one to answer!) See you peepsles later!**


	2. Chapter 1

**And we're back! Thank you to everyone who reviewed! Another chapter of The Ones Left Behind because I love you guys! Enjoy! Btw, like I said last chapter, the actual story takes place three years after Lexia meets Ty. Don't want any confusion there! Also, sorry to say, but I suck at writing fight scenes. Without further ado, here's the first real chapter! Sorry if it's a bit short.**

**Chapter 1**

~A goal is like the sun; you know it is there, but sometimes you lose sight of it. Take heart, for even the longest night is lit by stars beyond counting~

Lexia POV

Today was the day. Today, we escaped from this hellhole. I glanced over to the other side of the room where Ty slept. Over the past three years, he had been my best friend. He was the one person I could talk to. He made me smile. I kinda had a bit of a crush on him, but I'm pretty sure he didn't like me as any more than a friend. He was also perceptive enough to see that I didn't like to talk about my past, so he never pried. Now, we were ready to escape. Two years of planning went into this day. We wanted to cover every contingency, so we wouldn't have a repeat of our last attempt. I shuddered at the thought. I still bore scars from that day. Pushing aside those thoughts, I rolled off my cot and checked the secret stash under the floor of things we had gathered for our escape. Geez, that obsidian was heavy. My eyes looked over our scant supplies: an obsidian dagger, a roughly drawn map to the End portal, five purple gems for Seto to study once we made it back to Team Crafted, and a sword fashioned from three of the purple gems. I had already rigged some smuggled gunpowder to explode in my tunnel, creating an diversion and a roadblock so we could escape via the tower, which we had already carved a staircase into on the far side. Don't ask where I got the gunpowder. Let's just say that it required sneaking through some. . . unpleasant places to get to the armory of the End. The genius of the plan was that the Endermen all came to the caves when there was a riot. They wouldn't notice two people missing. That also left almost none of them to guard the portal. They would already have their hands full trying to keep prisoners under control. I had overheard a lot of the other prisoners planning a riot for today. I glanced over at Ty. He was now sitting up, awake. "Couldn't sleep, huh?" he said. I nodded.

"Just going over the plan one more time with myself," I explained. "You ready?"

Ty smiled. "I've been ready ever since I came here." I handed him the dagger and the map, and took the sword and gems for myself.

"Why do you get the sword?" he whined, half-jokingly.

I hesitated before answering. "I'm probably better than you with this. My father was a master swordsman, and I could handle a blade since I was three years old. I crafted the sword to the exact dimensions that would allow me to utilize it with ease." His visible eye widened. That was the first I had ever spoken to him of my past. I concealed the weapon under my baggy clothing, and Ty did the same.

It was time. The Enderman came to collect us from our cell. We were led to the mines, and we took off for my branch. From all reports, the riot would start very soon. I lit a long fuse with a flint and steel from the armory as soon as we got to the cave, then we continued on to the ladder. Sure enough, the sounds of fighting soon reached us. "Sounds like a big one," Ty commented.

"Yup. I think Alice was organizing this one," I replied. She was a well known insurgent ever since half her face got clawed off the day I met Ty. We waited a few minutes, then by a silent agreement, I began climbing the ladder to the top of the tower. Ty followed quickly. We got to the top, then Ty stopped me.

"If for some reason we get separated, I want you to take these." From his pocket he pulled a set of black and neon green headphones that I had seen him looking at wistfully sometimes when he thought nobody was looking. "If I don't make it out, find Sky. He might not believe you if you tell him that you knew me, so show him these. He'll help you."

"Ty, don't talk like that. Of course you'll make it out," I said reproachfully.

He was quiet for a moment, then he said, "Let's go." We began the treacherous descent down the tower wall, explosions echoing from down in the mines. We got to the bottom and Ty pulled out his map. "The portal should be. . . This way!" He pointed to his right. We looked cautiously around the corner. The coast was clear, and the portal should have been almost within sight. I allowed myself a small smile of satisfaction. All the Endermen were in the mines, just as planned. We pulled out our weapons, though. Just in case. Ty walked first, while I watched behind us. We only made it about ten meters before the whole plan went to hell.

We caught sight of a huge hulking mass laying atop the portal. Crap. The Ender Dragon was lounging on our only way out of this place. This wasn't in our plans! Normally the dragon just stayed in its underground lair! Ty turned to me. "Give me the sword. I'll distract the dragon, you make a run for it."

"No. I won't leave you. I go with you, or I don't go at all." I wasn't about to do the same thing my sister did to me all those years ago.

"Listen, we can't–"

"No. I have a serious problem with leaving people behind. We can distract it together, then escape. Together."

He sighed. "Nothing I can say to change your mind?"

"Nope!"

He smiled his lopsided smile again. "Ok."

Unfortunately, we were louder than than we thought. A low growl told us that we had awoken the beast.

"Shit!" I exclaimed.

"You got that right!" answered Ty.

The newly awoken beast let out an enraged roar. It was time to focus on the task at hand. "Let's flay some dragon hide!" I shouted. We began running towards the dragon. It scorched the ground around the portal, making a wall of purple flame that we wouldn't be able to get through.

Ty swore. "Now we can't even GET to the portal!"

I grinned, adrenaline rushing through my veins. "Sure we can!"

"How?"

I pointed at the dragon, who was taking flight. "Hope you know how to fall accurately!"

He shook his head, muttering something about insanity. I laughed. I hadn't seen a good fight in years, and my muscles were aching for a good stretch. The dragon swooped down to spray us with fire, but we both jumped out of its way. I managed to grab its tail and hauled myself into a better position. It swung its tail in an attempt to dislodge me, but to no avail. I began climbing up its back. It spun in midair, and it took all my strength to hold on to one of its spikes. My head was left spinning, though. I glanced behind me. Ty had also gotten ahold of the great black beast's tail. It swung its head around and regarded us with violet eyes. I closed my eyes and waited for the blast of fire that would surely come. When it didn't, I continued climbing until I was atop its broad back, where I could stand. I pulled out my sword and the dragon's purple eyes narrowed. Deadlox came to stand behind me, his dagger drawn. We raised our weapons to strike the beast, but when I brought the sword down, it only glanced off the dragon's steely hide. Ty's luck was no better. I raised my purple sword for a second blow, but what happened next stopped me mid-strike.

First there was a low, echoing chuckle that shook me all the way down to my bones. A voice rang out across the barren landscape. It was not quite real, and yet I heard it clear as day in my head. "This one will do," it said. It was so immense, so deep, so rich, that I stood entranced for a few seconds. A hand on my shoulder shook me awake.

I said, "You heard it too." It wasn't a question.

Ty was silent for a moment. "Promise you'll come back for me," he said quietly.

"Wait, wha–"

"Promise me!" He sounded worried.

"Of course I'd come back for you! What are you–" I was cut off as he spun me around and crashed his lips into mine in a quick, frantic kiss. As soon as he broke away, he shoved me and I began to fall. In Ty's visible eye was a profound sadness. Only for that one instant, though. Then he blinked and collapsed, writhing and screaming.

"_Get out of my head!_" he screamed. That was the last thing I heard as I plunged into the darkness of the End portal.

**Dun, Dun, DUUUUNNNNNN! What happens next? I guess you'll have to wait for the next chapter! Sorry, but i suck at fight scenes. Hahahaha, I feel so EVIL right now! Anyway, feel free to leave a follow, favorite, review, or whatever floats your boat! Constructive criticism is appreciated. Until next time, this has been Angel.**


	3. Chapter 2

**Heywhatisup, guys, Angel here with another chapter of The Ones Left Behind! (If you know where that is from, you are a wonderful person.) Thank you guys so much for actually reading my story! Four day weekends mean more time to write, so don't expect updates to come out this quickly in the future. Now, without further ado, ON TO ZE CHAPTER!**

**Chapter 2**

~Wisdom often comes from unexpected sources; we need only recognize it for what it is~

Lexia POV

The portal was cold. So, so cold. One moment I was falling through the End, next moment I was freezing my butt off in the void between worlds. Everything was dark. So, so terribly dark. I got the feeling that it was like that for a reason. The vague shapes that I glimpsed with my altered eye were gruesome beyond imagining. I was almost glad when I was unceremoniously spat out in a cave in the Overworld. Almost. Ty was still in the End.

Still laying on the ground, I took a deep breath. I was in the Overworld for the first time again in six years. Oddly enough, where this should have brought me joy, it brought only a deep sadness. My eyes filled with tears. My home was still a pile of ashes, as far as I knew. I had only an exiled brother and a sister who seemed to have no qualms about leaving me to the mercies of the mobs. I had nothing in this world. As despair started to set in, I felt Ty's headphones in my pocket and realized that I did have something. I had a purpose.

I stood up, taking in my surroundings. I was deep underground, from the looks of things. To my left was a stairway leading to what I assumed was the surface. The walls around me were a patchwork of dirt, stone, and stone bricks, almost as if someone had closed this room off from a larger complex. I turned around and looked at the portal I had just come out of. What I found startled me a bit. Instead of the stars I expected to see in the hole, there was nothing but stone. Looking at the portal, I could see at least three empty spaces where Eyes of Ender should have sat. How did I...?

I cleared my head of those thoughts. Wondering about the portal wouldn't help me Ty back. I had a job to do. I would find Team Crafted, then go from there.

With one last glance around the room, I turned and started up the stairs. Geez, that was a long staircase. There was a small atrium at the top of the stairs. Peeking out from the narrow stairwell, I saw two figures standing beside the door to the outside. Guards. Fear ran through my chest until I heard the sounds of soft snoring coming from the sentries. I let out a breath I didn't even know I was as quietly as I could, I crept past the two snoozing guards.

Slipping out of the cave, the first thing I noticed was the sky. It was dark, and there was absolutely nothing in it except the outlines of a couple of birds. No moon, no stars, no sun, no clouds. Just blank, featureless, gray sky. More than anything else, that unnerved me. I turned my attention to my surroundings. I had just come out of a mountainside and into a forest biome. I looked around for some landmarks that would lead me back here. That would be pretty easy considering that this was the only mountain in the area. There was also a huge oak tree right near the entrance to the cave. Satisfied, I started looking for something to lead me to some sort of civilization.

There appeared to be a small, overgrown trail leading west, deeper into the forest. I decided to follow it. The path was a bit dark and menacing, but I shrugged and started down it.

I took a few steps, and only my quick reflexes saved my life. As soon as I stepped onto the trail, the ground beneath me collapsed into a huge pit filled with bloodstained iron spikes. I was able to grab a low hanging branch before I fell. Dangling there, I saw that others had not been so lucky. Close to fifty bodies were impaled on the sharp iron stakes. I swung myself to the relative safety of the overgrown ground beside the trail and retched into the bushes. Wiping my mouth, I realized that the whole trail was probably booby-trapped like that. I still thought that the trail might lead somewhere, but I knew that staying on it was suicide. I began walking parallel to the path, far enough away that I would be safe from it, but still close enough to see it. The going would be much slower, but I pressed on anyway.

After walking about three hours, I stopped to take a little break. I was sweating, and my ebony hair was plastered to my face. As I leaned against a tree to rest, I realized that climbing this tree might give me a view of where I was going, so I found a low branch and began scaling the rough bark of the tree. When I reached the top, I looked all around. Back where I had come from, the lonely mountain loomed in the distance, towering over the rest of the forest. Looking along the woodland path, I saw that it veered off to the north after a while. I kept looking farther west, though, and I saw a sight that made my heart leap. It was a city: big, bright and shining. That would be where I would start my search for Team Crafted. I climbed down the tree.

With a new spring in my step, I set off towards the city. After another hour of picking my way through the thick underbrush, I reached the part of the trail that curved to the north. Remembering which direction the city was in, I set off into the wilderness.

_-/~ Le Time Skip~\-_

I reached the outskirts of the city. From closer up, it didn't seem so bright and shining. In fact, it seemed downright filthy. The few people I saw were scruffy looking and wore dark expressions, as if they hated the world. I fidgeted uncomfortably as I passed by them. They just kinda unnerved me, and when combined with the sky, which hadn't changed at all since I returned to this world, they made me feel like an evil pair of eyes was always present, always watching. Trash littered the streets and all the houses I saw were in various states of disrepair. This would not be a place I would want to live in. I hurried my pace as I entered deep into the heart of the city. As I got farther in, the buildings looked better and the streets were cleaner, but the people still seemed hostile. A few looked at me like you would look at a pile of dog poop. I looked over myself and realized that I must look very strange in my prison outfit. I spotted a decent looking clothing store and slipped inside.

After looking around for a while, I had found a pair of dark skinny jeans, some black combat boots, a bright green t-shirt, and a navy blue pullover hoodie with a white lightning bolt across it. I also found a studded belt I could attach my sword to. After changing into my new set of clothes, I realized that I had nothing in the form of money. I nervously handed over one of the five purple crystals from the End to the cashier. Her dull gray eyes widened, and she gave me twelve emerald blocks as change. Geez, I had no idea how much those crystals were worth. I pocketed the extra money and asked the cashier,"Do you know where I can find a group called 'Team Crafted'?"

Her eyes widened even more, if that was even possible. She shook her head quickly and asked me to leave the store. I frowned, but I left without arguing. I thought Ty had said that Team Crafted was famous, but from this lady's reaction I wasn't so sure about them. I shrugged and continued toward the center of the city. Maybe someone else would know where they were.

I reached a large plaza. There was a fountain in the center, and colorful mosaics adorned the ground. Children played nearby. Here, people seemed more relaxed, but most still had a cautious glint in their eyes. I walked up to a man who looked nice enough and asked him the same question I had asked the cashier. He looked at me sharply, shook his head no, and walked away briskly. People milling about started to whisper. As I moved about, everyone gave me a wide berth, as if I had a contagious disease. I heard a gruff voice behind me: "Ma'am, I'm going to have to ask you to come with me."

I spun around. A fat, middle-aged man with an official-looking badge was standing behind me.

"Why, may I ask?" I responded.

His expression turned sour. "No, you may not ask." I pulled out my sword. I could beat this dumbo, no problem.

He merely chuckled. "I wouldn't do that, missy." I felt the cold steel tip of a sword on the back of my neck. My eyes widened. "Put your weapon on the ground," commanded Fat Guy. I reluctantly placed my sword on the ground. Fat Guy picked up my blade and motioned to the guy behind me who had the sword pointed at my neck, who then handcuffed me. The guy who had handcuffed me had a narrow, pinched face, kinda like a rat's. Fat Guy walked in front while Rat Face poked me along with his sword. Everyone else apparently had something better to look at as the two men started to march me away.

As I was forcibly led through the town, I noticed a large iron compound fenced off away from the rest of the city. I opened my mouth to ask one of my captors about it, but I was silenced by a particularly harsh jab in the back. Warm, sticky blood dribbled down my spine. My mind screamed at me to do something, to not let myself get captured again, but I just walked along numbly. I was led into a building that was probably the town garrison in past days. Now it looked to be a makeshift prison. I was shoved into a dirty cell near the door. There were three sets of bunk beds in there. None seemed to be occupied except for a pile of gray rags and blankets in the bottommost bed of the bunk furthest to the back. This whole cell block seemed to be in disuse. Rat Face and Fat Guy followed me inside. "So," began Rat Face, "Why is a pretty girl like you asking around about Team Crafted?"

"None of your business," I retorted.

"Ah, but you see, in this town, everything is our business," replied Fat Guy.

I spat in his face.

Rat Face laughed. "Looks like we got a fighter on our hands, eh, Mr. Roberts?"

The other guy, apparently Mr. Roberts, chuckled evilly. "So where does one come by a sword like this, missy?" he asked, running his hand along my blade.

"Screw you," I said with a glare.

He feigned hurt, then his expression turned into a perverse smile. "We can do this the easy way or the hard way. Either you tell us what we want to know, or Mr. Smithey and I make your life very unpleasant."

Mr. Smithey pulled out a switchblade and began flipping it in the air.

A voice came from the other side of the room. "Leave her alone, Roberts." The officers' smiles twisted into scowls.

"Oh. It's you again," said Roberts with distaste coloring his voice. The two officers turned and headed out the door, Roberts still carrying my sword. Smithey called over his shoulder, "Don't worry, we'll be back. And when we are, you'll tell us _everything_." He left with a chuckle, slamming the cell door shut behind him.

I looked over to the source of the voice. Looks like what I thought was a pile of rags was actually a man, who was now sitting up. Who knew? He was wearing some tattered gray clothing. His curly hair was matted and dirty, and his brilliant green eyes looked tired as they met mine.

"Thanks," I said.

"No problem," he responded. I walked over to a bunk and sat down, sighing heavily. I had been free for, what, a few hours? And now here I was in captivity again. I turned and punched the wall beside me. I had blown my small amount of freedom.

"Woah, calm down a bit," the man said, "What are you in here for?"

"I don't even know," I said dejectedly.

"Well, what were you doing at the time of your arrest? That's probably what they got you for."

I sighed. "I was just asking around about Team Crafted."

The man looked at me sharply. "That explains some things. My name's Adam, by the way. 'Team Crafted' is a tabooed phrase around here. Why are you looking for them?"

"I need some help, and a friend told me to look for them, saying that they could help me."

Adam continued to look at me strangely. Then he burst out laughing. "You're funny! Alright, why are you really here?" He looked at me expectantly, a smile on his face.

"What?" I said defensively.

He stared at me for a few more moments, the smile slowly fading. "You're serious?"

I nodded.

He shook his head slowly. "Where have you been for the last three years?" he asked.

"The End," I said simply.

He chuckled. "You really should stop joking. Now-"

I stood up abruptly, a deadly glint in my eyes. "At this point, assume that I am not joking about anything I said," I said in a steely voice.

He put up his hands defensively. "Sorry, it's just that Team Crafted was broken up and the End portal has been shut for the past couple of years."

I took a step back, stunned, almost tripping over my bunk in the process. Team Crafted broken up? Ty would never lie to me... Would he?

Adam continued, "Team Crafted was destroyed about two and a half years ago."

That explains it. Ty had had no more clue than I did about what went on in the Overworld.

"What happened that you are stuck here too?" I asked.

His voice was tinted with a small amount of discomfort. "Oh, this and that. Treason, stealing from the royal treasury, punching guards, you name it, I've done it."

I looked back at Adam, who was now absently tossing a golden nugget into the air. I looked at him a bit more closely. Something about him struck me as familiar. He seemed to be hiding something. Some of Ty's stories were coming back to me. I wondered... Adam was a common name, though, and this Adam didn't seem nearly happy-go-lucky enough to be Sky. He matched Ty's description of Sky, though, if you could clean him up a bit and give him some sunglasses and an amethyst amulet...

"Are you Skydoesmincraft?" I asked bluntly.

He was silent for a moment. "Sky is dead," he said carefully.

"Oh."

"What makes you think that I would be him anyway, girl?" he replied, looking at me suspiciously.

"Well, you have the hair and the name."

He was out of his bunk and up in my face in a flash. His hands were balled into fists. "Only my closest friends knew my actual name. Who told you?"

Well, he certainly wasn't denying it anymore.

"Deadlox," I said simply.

He scoffed. "You're full of shit. Ty died three years ago."

"No, he's been stuck in the End for the past three years. I know this for a fact. I've been there for the past six years and Ty was the only one ever to talk to me. He also said you wouldn't believe me, so he gave me these to give to you." I pulled out the headphones.

"Nice story. You're probably the twenty-second person to try to make me believe you by pulling out a pair of headphones that look like Ty's set. Let me see them."

I handed him the black and green headset. He turned it over and began talking without looking at them. "Ty's headphones had his initials on them right..." He trailed off as he noticed a small "TD" etched on the inside of the headset. "Shit. You really weren't joking, were you, girl?"

I shook my head solemnly.

"Wait, if you got out, then is Ty here somewhere too?" For the first time since I had seen him, there was something akin to hope in Adam's eyes.

Tears came to my eyes. "No. We were going to escape together, but the plan messed up and only I made it out. That's why I need your help. Ty is still stuck in there and we need to break him out."

The hope faded from Adam's eyes. "I'm sorry. I really am. You have to understand that. As much as I would love to see Ty again, girl, we have bigger problems."

I felt my temper rising. "Ty was your best friend, and you're just going to leave him?" I asked angrily.

"DON'T YOU THINK I WOULD GO BACK FOR HIM IF I HAD ANY CHOICE?!" he exploded. "You have no idea what shit I've been through in the past three years!"

He took a deep breath. "Turns out, the squids were only a distraction, and Ty was only the beginning. We had to abandon our old base after that attack, so we went to one of our backup bases. A couple days after Ty disappeared in that battle, Herobrine and his mob army declared war on Minecraftia. I think we were their first official strike, but unrest had been growing between mobs and Minecraftians for years." I nodded, thinking of my village. Sky went on, "Within the month, Notch was assassinated and Herobrine crowned himself king of Minecraftia. The skies were shattered and heavenly fire rained on the world for a full two weeks. No more moon, or stars, or sun, or even clouds. After that, it was up to all the ones who could fight to keep normal citizens safe from Herobrine's tyrannical rule. Team Crafted was the main resistance group. We struggled a bit since Ty, who most people don't know was our leader, was gone, but I took over. It was only a matter of time before we all collapsed. A few months later, Mitch and Jerome went MIA on a patrol through a forest south of here. Their last transmission said that they had found some burned out ruins, then Mitch ran in, saying something about a huge group of spiders. It cut off after that. They were never heard from again. The rest of us – Husky, Seto, Ian, Jason, and I– managed to survive for the next two years. Then one night, we were in the mess hall of our base when we were swarmed by the soldiers of Herobrine. Everyone but me was taken. I barely managed to escape. I laid low after that, staying undercover, trying to find Captainsparklez or someone else who was still resisting Herobrine. I was in this city a couple days ago, looking for information, when I got picked up by those two simpletons. I could escape if only they would actually come check on their prisoners.

We had failed in our mission. Now, with Herobrine as supreme ruler, mobs run rampant and there is no place to hide from his influence unless you're deep in the wilderness. My situation, as you can see, is kinda hopeless," he finished and his shoulders slumped over.

I sat down. I needed a minute to process all this info. "Wow. I'm sorry, I had no idea..." I trailed off.

"No, it's fine. One thing that confuses me though, is that Notch couldn't completely kick Herobrine's butt. I mean, he's done it before. Why not this time? What made Herobrine so powerful?"

Something clicked in my head. "He made a deal with the Ender Dragon," I blurted out. Sky cocked his head to the side and motioned for me to continue.

"It all makes sense now! You know how there are those crystals in the End that replenish the Ender Dragon's energy?" He nodded. I continued, "What most people don't know is that the whole End is full of them. All the people who are taken to the End are put to work mining the purple gems. We never see where they go to. The Endermen must give the gems to Herobrine! And in return, Herobrine could keep adventurers from trying to kill the dragon and provide a steady supply of slaves. In theory, the gems could be manipulated to give Herobrine more power."

Sky was silent. Then he started nodding slowly, and a grin split his face. "We need to get out of here," he said suddenly.

I looked at him questioningly.

"What? There's a world to be regained and friends to be saved!"

"What caused your sudden change of heart?" I asked.

"You, my friend, may have just discovered Herobrine's weakness!" I thought that he might not be telling the whole reason, but he continued talking before I could ask him about it. "Cut off his power, and you cut off his right hand. By the way, what's your name? I can't just keep calling you 'girl'."

I smiled. "Lexia. Lexia Mortis."

"Now the question is: how do we get out of here?" said Adam. My grin broadened.

"I thought you'd never ask!"

**Holy crap, that was a long chapter! Lots of stuff happened, and now Lexia has met Sky! What is Lexia's plan to get them out of prison? What are they going to do? What the heck happened to Ty? Where is everyone else? Why am I asking so many questions? Heh heh, speculate all you want, you still have to wait until next chapter!**

**-Angel**


	4. Chapter 3

**Hello again, people of Earth and beyond! This is Angel here with another chapter of The Ones Left Behind! Thank you so much to all you people who reviewed. It means a lot to me. This chapter has some feels and some gore. Weeeelllllllll, on to the story!**

**Chapter 3**

**~The past may be history, but those who seek the future would do well to understand it~**

**Lexia POV**

I pounded on the cell door. "Roberts! I have something to tell you! But don't bring Smithey! He's creepy." I yelled. There was the sound of shuffling outside, then the door opened, revealing the fat cop. Roberts stepped in, only to be knocked out by Adam, who had been hiding behind the door. I slipped my foot in the door before it could close.

Sky looked incredulous. "I can't believe he actually fell for that."

I shrugged. "Like I said: purebred idiot." I was slightly annoyed to see that my sword was nowhere to be found. This really was a stupid cop. He didn't even have a weapon of his own. Wait a second... "It's a trap!" I shouted, dropping to the ground. Sure enough, an arrow sped through the spot that my head had been in just a second ago. Sounds of cursing came from outside. Sky sprinted out the door, and sounds of a fight reached my ears.

A few seconds later, Adam called out, "It's safe to come out!"

I cautiously crept out of the cell. Adam was standing over a barely conscious Mr. Smithey, blood dripping down the man's face from his nose and his mouth. He spat out a tooth. I picked up the officer's iron sword. It was old, dented, and not-well-cared-for. I threw it to the side in disgust. I leaned over his ugly face and spoke. "Do you work for Herobrine?"

He sniffed. "No. The independent business pays much better. That's not to say that I haven't done any business with him, though."

"Where are our weapons?" chimed in Sky.

"Why should I tell you?"

Adam and I exchanged a glance and began dragging his body toward the cell that Roberts was lying unconscious in.

"No!" he screeched. "I'll tell you. Just don't lock me in there with him. He drives me insane!" He nodded at Adam. "Your weapons are in the old armory." He looked at me. "Your weapon, on the other hand, was taken to Lord Herobrine."

"Thanks," I muttered dryly. We tossed him into the cell anyway and locked the door, despite his curses. They would eventually be found. People like them don't have enough brains to make a living on their own. Undoubtedly, they were working with someone else. All the more reason for us to get out of here before the real brains got back.

We wandered around the old garrison for a while. We found a few other prisoners, so we let them out as well. We kept wandering around until we found the armory. Inside, there were a few racks of old weapons. Sky found his butter sword on a table near the back. I scanned the racks of swords and tried to find one that wasn't broken, rusted, and dull. I finally settled on a hand and a half iron sword that was in marginally better condition than the rest of them. That still wasn't saying much, though. Swinging it experimentally, I tried to get a feel for it. It wasn't perfect, but it would do. I still wish that I had my old sword from before I was captured. It was a longsword, and it had been emerald laced with diamond, made to my exact standards. It had seemed a bit heavy at the time, but I had meant to keep it and use it my entire life. I had gone through a lot with that blade. It was like a best friend to me. Oh well. It's not like I'm going to get it back. I fastened this mediocre sword to my back, since it was too long to hang from the hip.

I looked over at Sky, who had also strapped his blade across his back. He picked up a pair of sunglasses from the table, put them on, and turned to me. This looked more like the Sky that Ty had described. "You ready?" I asked.

He frowned, looking troubled. "My amulet isn't here."

I saw that it had been special to him in the way he said it. I could sympathize. After a moment I said,"I understand, but we can't stay here."

He nodded sadly and we walked out the door. We headed towards the entrance of the garrison. "Where are we going?" I asked Adam as we walked.

"We need to find where the rest of Team Crafted is. For that matter, we should find the other pockets of resistance and unite them. We'll need as much force as possible if we are going to strike against Herobrine."

"Woah, don't get ahead of yourself. Let's start with Team Crafted. Who are we going after first?"

He thought for a moment. "We should see if Mitch and Jerome really are dead. So that means going to the Salkins Forest south of here and poking around a bit."

I paled. That was the forest that my village was– had been– in. Sky noticed. "Are you ok?" he asked. I nodded, but my eyes wouldn't meet his. His eyes narrowed behind his sunglasses. "If you say so, I guess."

The rest of the short trip to the exit was spent in silence.

_-/~ Le Time Skip~\-_

We stood at the edge of Salkins Forest. We had decided that we would split up and search the area.

"Alright, so you'll look for the ruins, and I'll look for anyone who might know anything," said Adam. I swallowed hard and nodded. He smiled. "We can meet up back here in two hours. If we don't find each other after half an hour, look for the other. You can track, right?"

I scoffed. "Can a creeper explode?"

He chuckled a bit. "Alright, see you in a couple hours."

I took off in the direction that I knew the ruins were in. There was no doubt in my mind. The ruins were my old village. Even after all these years, I found that I knew these woods almost like the back of my hand. Walking along, I found a lot of familiar landmarks. There was the old oak tree, and there was the little creek that Shadin and I used to play in. The village was nearby. My pace quickened. I burst into the small field that my village was in. Immediately I felt something wrong and evil here. No birds chirped overhead, and the wind stopped abruptly. What I saw in the burned-out field tugged at my heartstrings. Only charred skeletons remained of the buildings that I once called "home." No grass grew, nor were there signs of any animals living here. There weren't even any birds flying overhead. I trudged solemnly towards the shell of a building. It had been my house, but now it was only three charred walls. I slowly walked through what used to be my house with tears in my eyes. My old fireplace still stood. My lip started quivering as I remembered things that had happened here: Dad giving me and my sister out swords, my elder brother being sent away, Mom braiding Shadin's and my hair every morning, Mom being killed in the attack. There were a lot of memories attached to the fireplace. I fell to my knees in front of it, buried my face in my hands, and cried. No, more like I bawled my eyes out. All the pain that I had buried over all those years resurfaced. I was on my knees in almost the exact spot that I had watched my mother die, struck down by a skeleton's arrow. There wasn't even her bones left to bury. In that moment, I felt something new. Hatred. Hatred for the mobs and hatred for the one who called himself the king of Minecraftia, who had led the attack himself. After I had cried all the tears I could, I slowly stood up and walked out. I couldn't stand it anymore. I walked past what used to be my friend Jon's house. I had played with him when I was young, even though he was about five years younger than me. After his dad threw himself off a cliff, he became almost like the little brother I never had. My fists clenched in anger. He would be fourteen-and-a-half now, if he was still alive. He was one of the countless people ripped from my life during that attack. I walked some more. I came to what used to be the town square. This was the place that my father had told my sister and me to run away. The spot where my father had faced off against the white-eyed demon. The place he had died. Against my will, tears came to my eyes again. Sobs wracked my chest. It was like losing him all over again. As I walked closer to the center, I noticed a stone carved with a message in the center of the plaza:

_ "Here lie the remains of the town of Nordis, burned down by the Cursed One with White Eyes, the one that calls himself King of this realm. Many lives were lost here..."_

It went on to list the names of all the residents of the town, including mine. Somebody, I'm assuming my sister, must have come back sometime in the past few years and put this here. Emotions pushed through my mental barrier, threatening to break my sanity. I pushed them back again, knowing that I would pay for that later, and I gathered my thoughts.

Well, I should probably have another look around. I found myself following the same path that I had taken to escape. I found the spot where my sister and I had lost our swords battling three zombies. Here, the ground was all churned up.

Sometime, there was another fight here. It looked like spiders had been here. Lots of spiders. The trail wasn't too hard to follow since it appeared that nothing had disturbed this entire section of forest in years except for whatever made this trail. It led to the tall cliffs about half a mile out of town. There, it stopped. It appeared that the spiders had dispersed at around here. They had probably driven their target off these cliffs. There was no surviving a fall like that. Jon's dad had tried. We had found his body at the bottom a few days later.

I trudged back to the burned out town. Mitch and Jerome had probably gone over the cliff and died. I was going to pay my last respects to the dead village. I returned to the monument at the center of the village. I knelt down and wept one last time. I cried for my family, and I cried for my friends. I cried for what had happened, and I cried for what would have to happen before those lives were avenged.

I stood up and wiped the tears out of my eyes. I would cry no more, I resolved.

I looked at the monument one last time. There was some sort of haze moving around it. I blinked. It had just moved through the monument. I blinked again to clear my vision, but that only served to confuse me further. It wasn't a haze at all. It was a scene:

_Two figures were fighting. I scrambled backward as I recognized the figures, my eyes still glued to them. My dad was fighting Herobrine. But, how? I tried to close my eyes, only to find out that my left eye– the one that received the brunt of the magical impact in the accident when I was young– wouldn't obey me. When my right eye closed, the real world seemed to disappear. I stood rooted to the ground, unable to do anything. Burned out buildings were on fire again, and townspeople fought monsters all around. My father and Herobrine were locked in a terrible and deadly dance of blades. Both were sweating hard as their blades clashed again and again in a shower of sparks. My dad seemed to have the upper hand when a scream cut through the night. I knew that scream. It was the same scream that plagued me every night for the past six years: my own. My father faltered for just a second. Herobrine saw his chance and took it. His sword wove its way past my dad's guard and into his chest. My dad's blue eyes widened and his mouth opened in surprise as red blood bloomed across his green shirt. Herobrine's face twisted into a cruel grin as my father's pale hand dropped his sword. The man who taught me almost everything I knew fell to his knees, his lifeblood draining out slowly. From his mouth dribbled a stream of foamy blood, and a gurgling sound escaped his lips. But that wasn't enough for Herobrine. He pulled out an obsidian dagger after pulling out and sheathing his own bloody sword. I was unable to look away as the white eyed man drove the dagger into my father's chest and carved out his heart, yanking it out, still beating, and holding it up for his army to see. The mobs let out a great cheer as pack of huge, snarling wolves came out of the surrounding forest and began to devour my father's corpse. They were as black as night and as big as horses. Herobrine shouted something in a tongue that sounded evil to the ear, and all the townspeople froze, still as statues. The monsters continued moving, though, and they killed every last person, leaving their bodies for the huge black wolves. Herobrine shouted something else and the air itself became saturated with an ominous feeling. _

At this point I was finally allowed to tear away my eye. I blinked a few times as the present world faded back into view. Something told me that that was no ordinary hallucination, that this was what had actually happened.

I ran to a nearby building and emptied my stomach. I had no idea that my dad had died in such a grisly way. And to think that it was my fault. I refused to let myself dwell on it right now. Something useful I had learned over my years in the End was how to keep my emotions from surfacing and clouding my mind. Never had that same success with memories, though. Those came when they wanted to.

I turned numbly to return to the designated meeting place. Sky would want to hear about this.

I almost missed the sound of very light footsteps as I began walking away. I whirled around drawing my sword. "Who are you?" I shouted. "Show yourself!"

A boy stepped out of the shadows of a nearby house. He had on a dark gray hoodie and a loose pair of jeans. His eyes were a light brown that matched his hair. His hiking boots were stained with mud. A scar ran down the right side of his face. The description fit BajanCanadian, but I didn't think it was Mitch, yet all the same, I couldn't be too certain since I had never seen him.

"Who are you?" I repeated.

He didn't answer my question. Instead he countered, "Why are you in my territory?"

My eyebrows shot up. "What do you mean 'your territory'?"

"I mean what I said. You're on my territory, and if you won't leave, I'll have to make you," he said, his hand moving to his sword hilt.

My gaze narrowed. "I'd like to see you try."

He pulled out his blade, and I readied my own. "You know this isn't a fair fight, right? I know these woods and you don't," he said cockily.

" Don't be so certain," I said.

He lunged forward. I parried his strike and feinted to the left, trying to get inside his guard. That was when I noticed something about his sword. Or rather, MY sword. My eyes became clouded with anger and I attacked with a flurry of strikes that left us both panting hard. I struck his blade out of his hand with a vicious two-handed blow and kicked him to his knees. I pointed the tip of my blade at his neck. He swallowed hard. "Why are you using my sword?" I hissed.

"Your sword? This is my sword! I- I found it out in the forest!" His words stank of lying.

"Really? Show me where you found it." I lowered the hand-and-a-half sword. If I was going to be looking for information, I couldn't go around killing all my contacts. He made to pick up the blade he had been using, but I barred his path with my leg. "Nuh-uh. You can have this one." I handed him the iron sword and picked up my old emerald and diamond one. I sighed in relief. It seemed in good condition, but I would have to look over it later. I took a few swings with it and smiled. It was well balanced in my hand. The boy wrinkled his nose at the crappy old iron sword, but took it anyway. "Alright. Let's go," I said.

He slowly walked to the edge of the woods. Then he took off running, probably hoping to lose me in the dense forest. I should have expected something like this. I took off after him, cursing under my breath.

Sky POV (A/N: Yes I just did that. Don't bite my head off!)

I had been wandering around the forest for a while now, and I still hadn't found anything or anyone that might tell me what had happened to Mitch or Jerome. All I had found were some flowers, a few birds, and lots and lots of trees. No sign of human life ANYWHERE! I was going to start heading back to the spot we had agreed to meet at. I turned and followed my trail backwards. I had carved little butter ingots into trees as I had gone so I would know where I had come from. I didn't hear the person behind me until it was too late. A dagger was put up to my throat and I felt warm breath on the back of my neck. A voice hissed behind my ear, "Who are you and what are you doing here?"

I opened my mouth to answer, but I was interrupted by the sound of someone running through the woods towards my captor and me.

A very familiar face soon came crashing into sight. My breath hitched in my throat. "Mitch?"

The boy in the hoodie looked at me in confusion. His hoodie was gray instead of the black and red I remember, and he had a long, crescent shaped scar down the right side of his face, but he was still recognizable as my friend. His golden dogtag was also missing.

His next words were like a stab to the chest. "Do I know you? And who is this 'Mitch' person? My name is Jerome."

Mitch-who-doesn't-seem-like-Mitch whipped around and swore as another person skidded to a halt behind him. It was Lexia. "I thought I lost you!" he said, annoyed.

She rolled her eyes. "Please. You'll have to do better than that to lose me in these woods." She looked at me, then at my captor. Her eyes narrowed and her voice was filled with something that bordered on disgust.

"Oh. It's _you_."

**So there you have it! Who do you think the person with the knife is? Why is Mitch/Jerome acting weird? Heh heh, wait for next chapter! This is Angel, signing off!**


	5. Chapter 4

**Aaaaaand we're back! Thank you once again to everyone who reviewed! You all get cookie cake. *throws cookie cake at all the reviewers* Every review means the world to me. I know some of you have been wondering about a loose updating schedule, so I'll give you one. I should update once or twice every week, probably once on the weekend and maybe once during the week. Again, this is very loose. Sorry for being erratic these past few chapters, but I've had various time-consuming activities (state competitions, homework, etc.). Cat's been poking at me to update(cuz she's angry about the cliffhanger), and I think I'll oblige her. Sorry once again about erratic updating! So yeah. Here's chapter four of The Ones Left Behind.**

**Chapter 4**

**~Trust can never truly be mended once it is broken. Be careful what you do with it, and in whom you place your own~**

**Sky POV**

The knife clattered to the ground and I stepped away from my captor, drawing my butter sword. I turned around to face the person who had held a knife to my throat. I had to do a double take when I saw her. She was the spitting image of Lexia, only her hair was light silver instead of ebony. She had the same face, same crazy-colored eyes, same build, same height, same everything except for the hair. Her thick silver hair hung in a loose braid, revealing slightly pointed ears, and she was wearing a black hoodie over a tight tank top that matched her hair. Her jeans were black and gray digital camo, and her tennis shoes were black. The girl stood with her eyes wide open in shock. She opened her mouth as if to say something, then closed it again. Tears began filling her eyes as she looked at Lexia.

Finally, she managed to choke out a few words, "But... You're dead! The Enderman got you!"

Lexia shook her head slowly, the hard look fading from her eyes. "Shadin..." she trailed off.

Mitch(I'm just gonna call him Mitch) looked about as confused as I felt. "I'm sorry, am I missing something here?" he asked bluntly.

He was pointedly ignored by the two girls.

Lexia walked over to the other girl and embraced her warmly. Tears streamed unashamedly down the silver-haired girl's face as she quietly whispered,"I'm so sorry," over and over again.

Sounds of wolves howling in the distance caused Mitch to pale. He walked over to the silver haired girl and poked her shoulder. "Uh, Shadin? You guys can have your little happy reunion or whatever back at the treehouse, but we need to get out of here. Now." His remark was punctuated by the sound of wolves, this time much closer.

I stepped in the middle of the group, saying,"I agree with Mitch. You guys have some serious explaining to do, but now is neither the time nor the place for it." Mitch looked at me weirdly when I said his name.

The other girl, apparently named Shadin, shook her head to clear it. "Ok, follow me," she said to Lexia and me. I could tell there was still a lot of emotion in her voice, but she did a pretty good job of concealing it. Lexia seemed to snap out of it pretty well, too. Soon we were running through the forest again. Every so often I would see a flash of gray or black in the already-dark woods around us. Lexia was keeping pace with Mitch and Shadin as if she knew the forest (she might have. I really didn't know what to trust with her at this point.) and I was falling behind them all. Suddenly they disappeared in front of me. I skidded to a stop and looked around for them. They weren't here!

I jumped nearly three feet in the air as something grabbed my leg. I screeched as I was pulled down into a hole in the ground. A hand covered my mouth. I frantically looked around myself and relaxed a bit. Mitch, Lexia, Shadin and I were all in a hole in the ground. Sounds of a large group of... well, something, came from above us. Mitch removed his hand from my mouth and motioned for me to be quiet. I nodded vigorously. I followed them through a winding series of tunnels, and as we went along, the sounds faded behind us. Every so often there was a hole that led up to the surface, but we ignored most of them. After a while, I bumped into Lexia, who had stopped with the other two. Shadin said something, and Mitch poked his head through another hole to the surface. When he came back down, he said, "Coast's clear."

We all came up out of the hole, and Shadin was last. We were standing in front of a huge tree that towered over all the rest of the trees. Mitch led us around the side to a ladder that led to a cleverly disguised treehouse. He went up first, followed by Lexia, then me, and Shadin brought up the rear again. When I got finally made it to the top, I looked around in wonder. This place was HUGE! There was a large table at the other end of the room, and long windows overlooked the forest. A spiral staircase led up to a second floor, and there was a second staircase set into the outside wall. I looked at Mitch. "Can we talk?" I whispered. He nodded.

Before I could speak, though, Mitch beat me to the punch, saying, "Okay, now that we're all safe, what the Nether is going on?" He pointed at Shadin, saying in an accusing tone,"What have you been hiding from me? Who is she?" He pointed at Lexia.

"Yeah, how do you know each other?" I chimed in.

Mitch turned to me. "And who are you? Who is this 'Mitch' person? And why do you keep calling me his name?"

Lexia POV (cuz I can!)

I sighed. They would have to find out sometime. Shadin and I stepped forward at the same time. We looked at each other, and I motioned for her to go first. She went up to Mitch and put a hand on his shoulder. He brushed it off and backed up, saying, "No! I want answers, not lies!" He had a look in his eyes like a hurt puppy.

"We're not going to lie to you," I said soothingly. I looked at Shadin.

She sighed and said, "I suppose we should start somewhere. This is Lexia, and I'm Shadin. Gah, where do I even start?"

Sky looked at us with hard eyes behind his sunglasses. "The beginning, please," he said in a stony voice.

This would be really hard for me. I began," Well, it all started with a group of people. They were travelers, with no home."

"Oh, so you're starting from the VERY beginning," cut in Shadin.

Even six years later, she still acts just the same. I rolled my eyes and continued, "One of their hunters had the bright idea that they should settle down and live in one spot. That man was my great-grandfather." Shadin opened her mouth to say something, but I silenced her with a glare. She closed her mouth and pouted childishly at me. I ignored her and moved on. "They made their home in this forest, and called themselves 'Nordians.' They were quite peaceful, and lived off the land, isolated from the rest of the world. My great-grandfather was made leader of the town after the old leader died. The town of Nordis lived in peace for three generations. Its rule passed from father to son, then to my father, Jacob, from his father before him. He had a wife named Lisa. She was a beautiful woman with brown eyes and long, straight, brown hair to match. My father was a tall man, with short blonde hair and icy blue eyes. They had a son named James, but everyone called him Jimmy. He had Mom's hair and eyes, but he looked like Dad otherwise. He was the perfect child for the most part, the one who followed all the rules and almost never got in trouble. About a year later, they had another baby. Only, thing was, it wasn't just one. There were twins. They had their dad's icy blue eyes and their mom's brown hair. Their names were Shadin and Lexia."

Mitch looked confused. "Wait, but you guys don't have icy blue eyes and brown hair."

I opened my mouth to reply, but Shadin spoke first. "I'll take it from here, sis. So! When we were really little, we were in some sort of magical accident and our eyes and hair changed colors due to that. We were never given the details, and we were too young to remember any of it!" She turned to me. "I dunno about you, Lexia, but my red and silver eye is pretty cool. I can see in the dark. What about you?"

I was silent for a moment, unsure of whether or not to tell her about my vision. I still had some major trust issues. I mean, who wouldn't if the person whom you trusted the most in the world left you to die without even trying to help you? "I don't know if I can trust you. After all, you seemed to have no problem leaving me to a death at the hands of an Enderman."

As soon as I said it, I realized how cruel it sounded. That looked like it really wounded her. The guys just stood there looking confused. Tears welled up in my twin's eyes and hurt was written across her face.

"Never have I regretted a decision more. I cried for you every day. Every. Single. Fucking. Day. I thought you were dead. I never knew... I... I have no excuse. I didn't want to die. We had lost our swords. I almost committed suicide a few times, just to be with you. I felt like I was missing an arm without you. Then..." She collapsed into sobs. Mitch came over to her side, rubbing her back. He glared at me. "Now look what you've done!"

I opened my mouth to respond with a fiery retort, but Shadin cut me off. "Stop it, both of you! Please, just stop," she said between sobs. My gaze softened as I saw the pain that she had been through. I walked to her and embraced my long-lost sister, letting her cry into my shoulder. Mitch glared at me, but said nothing.

Adam cut in, "Well, this is all well and good, but I think we are still missing some information."

Mitch and I both sent him withering stares.

"Okay then," he said, taken aback. After a few minutes, Shadin calmed down. We went and sat down at the table. Mitch and I sat on either side of Shadin, and Sky sat beside Mitch. "I can continue," I said. The others nodded.

I went on, "After the accident, our lives were pretty good. We played in the forest a lot, and Dad taught us swordplay, having been a master swordsman. On our seventh birthdays, our father gave us swords of our own. Shadin had a ruby and diamond one, and I had an emerald and diamond one. Jimmy received a sapphire and diamond blade for his eighth birthday later that year. A few scant weeks after, though, my dad caught him using magic and exiled him. We never heard from him again."

Adam raised his hand like a little schoolboy. "Why was he exiled for using magic?"

My sister and I exchanged a glance and shrugged. Shadin answered, "Our people were old and superstitious. They probably didn't want to be 'cursed'." She held up finger quotes.

I continued, "Our lives continued. We missed our brother, but we never heard from him again. We kept going on, then one night when we were about thirteen, the mobs came, led by Herobrine. It was a horrid night. Our mom was killed by a skeleton's arrow. Dad told us to run, and he stayed back to fight that white eyed monster. The entire village was slaughtered. When Shadin and I were trying to escape, I was caught by an Enderman. I was taken captive by the beast. It took me to the End, where I was forced into slavery mining purple gems. Three years later, Deadlox, or Ty, came to the End as a slave. He was the only one to ever talk to me, and we planned out our escape. After years of preparation, we finally made our move. Something went wrong, and I was the only one to make it out. He told me to find Team Crafted and I promised to come back for him. I got captured while asking around about them, and I met Adam while trapped in the prison. We escaped the prison easily and began looking for other members of Team Crafted here in the forest."

Shadin looked at me apologetically. "Sis, Team Crafted was broken up years ago, sorry to say."

Adan's head perked up. "That's what we're trying to remedy."

Shadin looked confused. "But, Sky, the leader, is dead, isn't he?"

Adam straightened up. "First off, Ty was the leader, and secondly, no, Sky isn't dead. In fact, he's sitting at this table."

Shadin, ever the cynic, was very skeptical. She looked at Mitch. "This is Jerome. I'm pretty sure he is not Sky."

I facepalmed. "He's Sky!" I pointed at Adam.

Her mouth made a perfect O. "That makes more sense."

We sat there awkwardly for a few minutes before I finally spoke. "So what happened to you?" I asked Shadin.

"After I barely escaped with my life, I wandered around the forest a bit until I came to the edge. From there, I could see the city, so I went there. I stayed in town for a while, then returned to the forest. I found the burnt out shell of Nordis, but there was no life there and an ominous miasma hung over the whole area. While I was there, I picked up our swords. I decided that I didn't want anything to harm the village anymore, so I took it upon myself to guard the memory of Nordis by becoming the keeper of the area. From then on, I lived here and kept watch over the woods. Things happened in the outside world, and I tried to keep up on the goings on in the world, but I didn't pay too close attention. Herobrine called himself king, Notch was assassinated, Team Crafted broke up, and none of it affected me very much except the heavenly fire. A while later, I was out on patrol, and I found this guy lying half dead and bleeding at the bottom of the cliffs." She jerked her thumb at the boy sitting next to her, who was still glaring at me. He just really didn't seem to like me. "I'm not sure how he did it, but he managed to survive a tumble down the cliffs. I brought him back to the treehouse while he was in a coma, then a couple days later I was looking around the top of the cliffs and I found evidence of a huge horde of spiders. They probably chased him off the cliff. A few weeks later, he woke up. He had no memory of anything, really. For the first two days, all he would say was 'Jerome', so I assumed that was his name. He stayed with me for the past couple years, and eventually I gave him your sword so he wouldn't have to borrow mine all the time. We work together to protect the forest."

We were silent for a moment, letting all that sink in. Then Sky spoke to Mitch. "Wow. Okay. Let me fill you in on some of the details of your life. Your name is not Jerome, that was the name of your best friend. You are Mitchell Hughes, and you are also known as BajanCanadian or just Benja. You were an amazing PVPer, and your favorite game was the Hunger Games. You were a part of Team Crafted, but you were lost on one of our patrols, along with your best friend Jerome aka Fluffy. Our last transmission from you guys was Jerome talking about some ruins, I'm assuming Nordis, then you ran in screaming something about spiders. Any of that ring a bell?"

Mitch's face was one of confusion.

"Was Jerome . . . a bear?" he asked.

"Close. He was a bacca. Do you remember Betty?" said Sky.

"Uhh, something blue?" answered Mitch slowly. "This is giving me headache."

Sky turned to Shadin. "Have you seen a brown, fuzzy thing wearing a suit in this area?"

She shook her head slowly.

Sky swore. "We have to find Jerome! He is the key to unlocking Mitch's memory, I'm sure of it!"

Yawning, I said, "That may be, but we need some rest. I dunno about you guys, but I, for one, am exhausted." There were nods of assent from everyone. Shadin said, "Mitch, Sky, can you share a room? My sister and I can use my room." The boys nodded, and Mitch still seemed like he was getting used to his name. "Sorry. The two guest rooms are serving as an armory and a chest room," she apologized to me and Adam. Mitch led Adam upstairs and I followed my sister up a different staircase set into the outside wall. Her room was nice. There was a small bed tucked into the corner, and there was a nice desk along one wall. A huge, comfy-looking La-Z-Boy sat beside a torch and some bookcases. On top of the desk lay her sword, looking just how I remembered it, a ruby and diamond broadsword. After putting my emerald and diamond longsword next to my sister's, I immediately made for the La-Z-Boy and sat down. Shadin plopped down beside me since it was a big chair. I hugged her as she whispered, "I've missed you, sis."

I sat back up. "I'm sorry about not trusting you. It was really mean of me."

She shook her head. "No, you were right. I made a huge mistake, and it cost both of us."

I said, "Listen, I have something to tell you. I didn't tell you guys earlier since it doesn't really pertain to the others, but I thought you might want to hear how Dad died."

She looked at me in disbelief. "But, how? How could you know?"

I began, "So I was in the ruins of Nordis, and you know that stone monument in the ruins of town square?"

Shadin looked confused. "What monument?"

I blinked in surprise. "You mean you didn't put it there?"

She regarded me with suspicious eyes. "Lex, you know I have no artistic ability whatsoever. I haven't carved any stone monuments."

"Then who was it?"

"I don't know, but you said that you knew how Dad died. Can you tell me?"

I explained about my vision and its horrid contents.

Shadin sprang from the seat. "That little son of a –"

"Shadin," I cut in before she could go off on a huge rant, "going off to whoop Herobrine's sorry little ass unprepared is suicide! I saw what he did to Dad, and I want revenge too, but without backup, we won't last two minutes!"

She scowled and sat down again. "I know, but that doesn't mean I have to like it." We sat silently for a while.

I looked out her window. It was a peaceful night, or whatever time it was. I couldn't tell with the sky as screwed up as it was. It seemed to be perpetually gloomy. Suddenly, a howl pierced the gloom. The blood drained from my sister's face. "What?" I asked.

I could barely hear her as she whispered a single word.

"Wolves."

**So there you have it. I really want to know what you guys think of the story, so I'm gonna try something new. If you guys leave a review with your predictions, I will PM a sneak preview of the next chapter to the person whose guess is the closest. It might just be a short excerpt, but it will be featured in the chapter, plus you will get a shout out in the beginning author's note! I have no clue how well this will work, so I'm just gonna try it with this chapter. Also, please leave any thoughts you might have in the reviews, predictions or not. The reviews inspire me to write more! So, all that aside, I hope you peepsles have a great day!**


	6. Chapter 5

**Hello again, my dear reader, and welcome to the next Chapter! First off, I want to say: ERMAHGERSH, 400 VIEWS! You guys are the best! Cookie cake for all reviewers! Shout out to IceAurora for being closest in your predictions! Some were right, some were not, and there are several more plot twists that I don't think anyone has noticed yet! I have some answerless questions at the end of the chapter, so here's how the whole sneak peek thing will work (hopefully): you guys tell me your answers in the reviews, and I will send a preview to the person who gets the most right (or at least close). Anyway! Sorry if the chapter's a bit short, but it is DEFINITELY dramatic. Here ya go! **

**Note: A bastard sword is just another name for a hand-and-a-half sword. I read too much Game of Thrones. **

**Chapter 5**

**_~Courage is often hidden from us. We need not fear that we will lack it in times of trial; it will show itself to us when we need it most~_**

** Lexia POV**

I rushed to the window. Black shapes swirled at the base of the tree. The wolves were jumping and snapping at low branches. They were huge. They looked like the same ones from the vision, the ones who came forth to feast on the dead. A solitary green light moved through the forest at a high speed. Through the dense forest , I could see a lone, black-cloaked rider on a huge, scarred silver wolf, carrying a green torch. The other wolves howled and parted as he emerged from the surrounding forest. The hooded figure raised the torch and the wolf pack grew silent. The hooded rider let out a long, drawn-out, low moan. The silver wolf howled and the pack went into a frenzy.

Mitch and Adam burst into the room. "What the hell is out there?!" cried Adam. I motioned for him to come look. The blood drained from his face. "Shit."

"We have to get out of here," said Mitch. We all nodded. A huge commotion came from outside. I looked again, then immediately pulled my head back as the green torch the rider had been carrying sailed up towards my face. I screamed in pain as the fire seared my left shoulder while passing by. The torch landed in the middle of the room, and the wood touching it burst into flame.

I stood in agony for a second, just staring at the bloody mess that used to be my shoulder. Ironically, my blue hoodie was still mostly intact. I was shaken out of my reverie by Sky calling my name. I saw that the others were climbing up a ladder that I hadn't noticed before. He was holding my and Shadin's swords. I staggered over to him and he helped me up the ladder. At the top, the other two were waiting. I climbed up and Sky was right behind me. We were on top of the tree.

"Follow me," commanded Shadin. She started leaping nimbly from branch to branch. Mitch followed her closely, and I followed a few steps behind him. We went from branch to branch, treetop to treetop. My shoulder was killing me. The pain only got worse with every jump. I started to fall behind. I tried to concentrate: one foot in front of the other. I failed miserably. The branches started to seem slippery, and I couldn't feel my feet. My legs gave out, and I became vaguely aware of dangling. Someone had my right hand. Sky. My shoulder burned, and sleep became more and more enticing. All my senses dimmed, and all that I could feel was my shoulder radiating pain. My eyes drifted closed, and my body gave out to a blissful blackness.

Shadin POV

A shout from behind stopped me. "Guys! A little help here?" called Adam. I turned around. Sky was holding on to Lexia's hand as she dangled from the branch, leaping wolves snapping at her heels, and she didn't appear to be moving. I swore as I sprinted back across the branches to get to them. Mitch was right beside me, surprisingly. I didn't get the vibe that he really liked my sister, but he reached down to grab her other hand when we reached Adam. I put my hands on the boys' backs so they wouldn't overbalance themselves and fall over the other side of the branch while pulling Lexia up. They dragged her up and she groaned a little. I looked over her and cursed. Her left shoulder was burned badly, and I could see pieces of bone peeking out from underneath the ruined tissue. The flesh around the area was scorched. I tore away the sleeve of her sweatshirt and swore yet again. Her arm was covered in black blood, and it was sizzling.

"We need to get her to a healer, and fast." I looked up. The green flames had engulfed the whole tree and were coming towards us. "But first we need to get the hell out of here." Adam tried to lift Lexia's dead weight, but he wasn't able to. Mitch picked her up with a grunt and slung her over his shoulder. We all started moving again. I set the pace at a light run. The wolves beneath us howled, easily keeping pace with us. A couple of the younger ones began scaling the trees, digging their claws into the bark of the trees. They probably wouldn't make it up, but I picked up the pace a little, just to be safe.

I could see that Mitch was tiring. His breath was coming hard and fast, and his movements grew slower by the minute. He couldn't do this much longer. None of us could, really. It looked like Adam was about to pass out. I looked below us. The wolves were getting bolder. They would use each other as springboards, causing a fight among them as often as not. My legs were starting to ache. I glanced behind me, and suddenly my legs had a new energy. The huge silver wolf with the hooded rider had made it up a tree. "Run!" I screamed at the other two.

"No shit!" said Sky sarcastically between breaths. I glanced behind me again. The giant wolf was loping along the branches at an easy clip, yet it was still gaining on us quickly.

"Adam!" I shouted. He looked at me. "I need my sword.

" He looked back at the wolf and its rider. "Shadin, that's just asking to be killed!"

"My sword," I growled through gritted teeth. He reluctantly handed it to me as we ran. "You guys keep going! I'll take care of the rider." I said. I turned to meet the man on the wolf head-on. I readied my blade and said a little prayer, just in case Notch was actually still out there. The wolf skidded to a halt and the man on its back vaulted off, flipped twice midair, and landed on my branch with his sword drawn. It's strange what you notice at the height of adrenaline. I noticed his sword. It was a bastard sword of some strange, shimmery material, honed to a keen edge. That was all I had time to notice before I was sucked into a fierce battle. He lunged for me and I parried easily. I countered with a slash meant to open him from shoulder to gut. He brushed it aside as easily as you would a fly. We exchanged a few more strikes with neither of us landing a hit on the other, and I got the sense that I was being tested, toyed with, almost. After my last strike, he returned with a vicious two handed blow that drove me to my knees. I held my sword with one hand on the handle and one on the blade, keeping my assailant from slicing me open. My blade bit into my hand where I held it. Suddenly, the pressure released from my hands and a boot met my face, sending me sprawling dangerously on the branch. My blade clattered to the ground below me. I caught a glimpse of a pair of blue eyes from under the hood. I closed my eyes and waited for the blow that would end my life.

It never came.

Something whizzed past my face. I heard the man curse as something buried itself in a nearby tree. I opened my eyes to see the hooded figure getting back on his wolf, blood dripping behind him. With a single phrase that chilled my blood, the man and the wolf leapt off the tree.

Something in a black suit leapt over my head. Something brown and fuzzy. It let out a strange war cry as it grabbed something out of a nearby tree and put it on his back. The cry sounded like . . . slurping. I blinked in confusion as it held out its furry hand to me. I took its paw with my good hand and it pulled me up to my feet. I was astonished when it said, "You looked like you could use some help. Name's Jerome. What's yours?"

"Shadin," I managed to say.

"What, you never seen a bacca before?" He smiled a ridiculous smile."You have a hell of a wolf infestation here. My friends can help you with that." I looked around. On the ground, there were a lot more creatures like Jerome– baccas– and they were fighting the wolves. They fought like maniacs, using anything and everything, from wooden hoes to diamond swords. Some of them also brought water buckets to combat the fire.

Suddenly I remembered my friends. My eyes widened. "Follow me!" I cried. I took off in the direction that Sky, Mitch, and Lexia had gone. I ran as fast as I could, and I could hear Jerome following me. I caught sight of my friends ahead, Sky fighting a pair of wolves behind Mitch, who was struggling to carry Lexia. They were all covered in scratches. Jerome and I leapt onto their branch and added our weapons to Sky's. The bacca fought with a diamond axe. Soon, the two wolves fell, where the baccas took care of them. Jerome turned to Sky. "It's been a long time, Adam."

Adam smiled. "Good to see you again, Fluffy. There's someone you should see, though." He turned to Mitch. Jerome froze. Then his face broke into a huge smile.

"Biggums! You're alive!" Mitch just stood there looking confused, still struggling under the weight of my sister. Jerome's face slowly fell. "Biggums? What's wrong?"

Mitch blinked in confusion, then said, "Do I know you from somewhere?"

Jerome looked absolutely mortified. "You . . . You don't remember me?" Mitch shook his head sadly.

"I think I might have, but that was before this." He pointed to the scar on his face. My sister groaned. She seemed to be in a lot of pain.

"Uh, guys? Can we get Lexia to a healer? Please?" I asked.

The bacca grimaced."Yeah. She doesn't look too good." Mitch looked like he couldn't go another step, so Jerome came forward and took my sister from Mitch as easily as if she was light as a feather. The boy in the gray hoodie seemed relieved. Jerome led us through the trees, leaving the baccas to fight the wolves and the mysterious green fire. After a while, we came to a clearing. Other baccas milled about on the ground, while still others climbed around in the trees. There were tree huts in all the trees surrounding the clearing. Pathways and ladders crisscrossed the space between trees, linking together all the different huts. Jerome led us to one near the top of the largest tree. He pounded on the door.

A grey haired bacca opened the door. "What do you need?" she asked in a crotchety voice. Then her eyes moved to my sister in Jerome's arms. "Oh. Bring her in. The rest of you, stay out of here! I need space to work." I started to protest, but Jerome silenced me with a pleading look. He walked inside with my sister. I crossed my arms and began to pace.

_-/~ Le Time Skip~\-_

I had been pacing for about two hours. There was still no word on Lexia's condition, and Jerome hadn't come out. Adam had gone in search of food, and Mitch had sat against the side of the building as I paced beside him. Standing up, Mitch took me to the side. "I know it's hard, but I'm sure she'll be ok. You need some rest and food."

I looked up with him with pleading eyes. "But, but–" He put a finger to my lips.

"No buts, baby gurl. C'mon, waiting around won't help her." I looked at the ground. I guess he was right. I silently let him pull me into an embrace. Tears welled up in my eyes. In the past twenty four hours, I had found my sister, and now I might lose her again. Mitch stood silently and held me as I cried into his shoulder. After a few minutes, Mitch wiped my tears and led me down to the forest floor, where a feast was taking place. Baccas whispered as we passed them, and some stared openly. They were polite overall, but a few of the older ones gave us dark looks and turned away. We made it to the forest floor and found Adam stuffing his face with a plate piled high with food. He was in some sort of eating contest, from what I could see. A black-furred bacca sat across from him, eating off of another overflowing plate. A bunch of baccas had gathered around the pair and were cheering for their favorites as the two shoveled food into their faces. Adam seemed to be losing, but not by much. I decided that I wasn't going to stay to see the conclusion, so I moved around the group and headed towards the buffet set up on the other side of the clearing.

I grabbed a bowl of something that looked like mushroom stew and sat, leaning back against one of the trees. Mitch sat down beside me with his plate of food and began to eat. I picked halfheartedly at my soup, but I couldn't eat. I was too worried. After a while I just put my food to the side. Mitch scooted a little closer, and I leaned my head on his shoulder. "Are you remembering anything?" I asked him.

"A little. Just a face here, a word there, maybe a few scenes."

"That's good." We were silent after that. I was brooding on what the mysterious hooded man had said. I must have dozed off, because when I woke up, Mitch was shaking my arm gently.

"It's Jerome. He just came out of the hut," he said gently, "Let's go see if he has any good news for us." I nodded groggily, stretching my arms. I got up slowly and looked around for the bacca in a suit. I saw him talking urgently to Sky, who it appeared had won the eating contest. My heart sank as I saw Adam's worried expression, but I forced myself to walk over to them. Mitch being beside me made me feel a little better, but I still felt a deep apprehension.

I heard Jerome say to Sky, ". . . take a sorcerer to heal her." I gathered my courage and strode up to the pair.

"What's this about a sorcerer?" I asked.

For the first time since I met the bacca, his face showed no trace of humor. "The fire must have been magical. Our healer has done all she can, but it won't be enough. It would take a sorcerer to heal her, and we don't have one here. She has a couple days at best, maybe a few hours at worst. I'm so sorry."

**THERE YOU HAVE IT, MAH LOVELY PEEPSLES! Heh. Heh heh. Heheheheheheheheheh. Cliffhangers. And now. . . **

**Questions!**

** Who is the mysterious hooded figure? What is that strange sword made of? What is wrong with that fire? Will Lexia survive? What do you think Mitch will remember next? Is there something between Mitch and Shadin? How does Mitch not remember his own best friend? What will happen in the next chapter? Leave your thoughts in the reviews for a possible sneak peek of next chapter, because I do read them (Note: when I ask for predictions, please just give me what you think will happen in the next chapter, not the whole rest of the plot, please. I can't give away TOO many things). ANYWAY! So we found Jerome! Lexia is dying, and Shadin is a bit of a wreck! Sky is . . . Sky. Mitch is still getting his memories back, and I'm laying in bed with a broken back! I have no idea about you!**


	7. Chapter 6

**Welcome one and all to the next chapter of The Ones Left Behind! Congrats to IceAurora for winning the review contest again, but as she seems to be the only one answering all the questions, I might discontinue the contest. I dunno. I'll leave that up to you guys in the reviews. Review responses (I'm just going to start on the reviews for the last chapter since, uh, yeah)!**

**Orangebunny30: Patience. Jason and the flash to the End shall come later. OC form is at the end of the chapter, and about Seto?. . . Hehehehehe**

**IceAurora: About half that is right, and half is not. Thank you so much for guessing, though! And no, I have not read Mistborn.**

**Anyway, uh. . . Fluffiness is fluffy? Enjoy, mah peepsles!**

**Chapter 6 **

**~Time is precious. You only have so long to live, so treasure it– some don't get the chance~**

**Mitch POV**

I saw Shadin's face crumble as she heard the news. She walked away, saying, "I need a moment." I watched her disappear into the dense forest surrounding us. I waited a minute, then went after her. Sky and Jerome exchanged a glance behind me. I ignored it.

Walking into the forest, I had a hard time finding her. When that girl didn't want to be found, she was goddamn hard to find. After a few minutes of searching, I heard the faint sound of crying coming from somewhere above me. I looked up, and found Shadin curled up in the fork of two tree limbs twenty feet off the ground.

She saw me and started fidgeting uncomfortably. "Go away. No one needs to see me like this." She buried her face in her knees.

I hoisted myself up into the tree and found a perch beside her. I smiled a half smile and traced my finger absentmindedly over one of her pointed ears, but she shied away from my touch. "Shadin, you found me and took care of me when I was hurt and confused. Let me do the same for you." I cringed and cursed inwardly, realizing how strange I sounded.

She just sat there silently for a few seconds, then she sighed and scooted closer to me. She poked her head up a little, just enough so I could see her beautiful eyes, and asked innocently, "Why did you do it?"

I drew back, confused. "Do what?"

"Go back for my sister. I don't really get the feeling that you like her very much."

I scratched the back of my head. It wasn't really something I had given much thought to. After a long moment I said, "It's not that I don't like her, it's that ever since I found her, you've been different. You seem sadder, and almost guilty. I guess I felt that it was her presence that made you that way. Then, later, I saw how much she meant to you. I could see that if she died, it would be really hard on you. That's why I went back for her."

She looked so sad at that moment that I wanted to cry. "Not that it makes any difference, though," she whimpered, tears forming in her eyes.

I reached over and wiped the tiny crystalline droplets off of her cheeks. "I don't know anymore. Just two days ago I was so sure of myself. There was so much that I just thought I knew. Like how my sister was dead, or that things that went on outside our little forest wouldn't affect us, or that your memories were inaccessible. Now, I just..." Her voice trailed off, and my heart broke to see her like this. She looked at me, pain filling her eyes. I found her hand and took it in mine. It was warm . . . and sticky. I looked at it, and then back at her face, shock coloring my expression. Her hand was cut open across the palm, and it was oozing blood. "Shadin!" I said, concerned. "What happened?"

She looked at her hand, as if only now comprehending that it was torn open. "I- I think I blocked a strike with both hands, one on the handle and one on the blade."

I looked at it again. The cut was deep, down to the bone, and kinda dirty. It had been bleeding for over two hours. That couldn't be good. "We need to get that taken care of."

Shadin's face was paler than usual. "I don't think I can make it down the tree. I'm actually a bit scared of heights." That really surprised me. This was Shadin, who lives in a treehouse, who hunts and travels in the treetops, who fights like a crazy person, and she was scared of HEIGHTS?

"Why did you never tell me?"

She looked a bit sheepish. "I didn't want you to think any less of me."

"Shadin," I chided gently, "In my eyes, you will always be the most amazing girl ever."

She looked up at me, her face now fully visible. "Really?"

Instead of answering her, I leaned in and pressed my lips against hers. She seemed a bit surprised, then returned the kiss. Her lips were soft and sweet, and her good hand found its way to my head and buried itself in my hair. After a few moments, we were interrupted by the sound of laughter coming from above us. Shadin and I both pulled back, startled. My surprise turned to embarrassment as I looked at the source of the laughter and found Adam and Jerome. The bacca was grumbling good-naturedly as he handed Sky a golden ingot. Sky was the one laughing. "I told you so, Jerome! Mitch and Shadin sitting in a tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"

Shadin and I both started blushing profusely.

Adam was still singing, so Jerome explained, "Man, if only you could see your faces right now. Adam and I had a bet. He bet that you would kiss her. I said she would slap you if you tried."

Shadin growled, "The only one about to get slapped is you."

He put up his hands in mock-defense. "Hey, I'm just a colorblind bacca. No need for slapsiedoodles."

Shadin sighed and hung her head. "Sorry, it's just that I'm a bit of a wreck right now."

Adam, who had stopped laughing and singing to listen, muttered something that sounded like, "Sure didn't look like it, the way you two were-" I cut him off with a glare.

Jerome elbowed Adam, then said to Shadin, "It's ok. That's not actually the real reason I came out here, but I can't speak for Adam. I have a little explaining to do. I wanted to let you guys know that I am so sorry about never coming to look for you after the spiders drove you off the cliff, Mitch. If I had known that you survived, I would have never stopped searching for you. As fate might have it, I wasn't ready to go back to Team Crafted after I thought that you died. I was wandering, and I found the bacca colony. I stayed with my kind and they became like family. I kinda figured that TC would be fine without me. I'm really sorry, guys. I have never been so wrong."

I said, "It's ok , biggums." The word rolled off my tongue easily. "You're here now, and that's what counts." He smiled a bit.

"We still need a sorcerer, though," said the bacca.

Adam said, "If only Seto were here. Then we wouldn't have this problem."

Jerome's head snapped up at that. "Guys, I have an idea." Then he was up and running across the trees towards the village.

Seto. Seto? Why was that name familiar? A face popped up from the fog of my mind. A brown haired, brown eyed guy wearing purple and grey robes. That's about all I could remember about him, though.

I sighed and stood up on the branch. "We should probably go after Jerome."

I looked up to see that Adam had already taken off, so I helped Shadin up and we ran across the trees to the village. When we got to the clearing, Jerome was in a shouting match with one of the older, black haired baccas.

"I need to see them though!" Jerome cried.

"For the last time, you do not have permission from the Bacca Council!" boomed out the other bacca.

"But it could save a life!"

"If one life is the price for our continued safety, then so be it!"

"But she has a sister!"

"The answer is the same!"

"But–"

The other bacca cut Jerome off. "Enough. You have already endangered us enough by bringing these humans into our midst." He spat the word "humans." " You may NOT see the records!" At that, the bacca spat on the ground and turned away from Jerome.

My bacca friend just stood there, crestfallen, until a voice came from behind me. "Let him see the records, Leonidas." I turned around. The grey furred healer was standing behind me. It was her who had spoken. "We baccas are not heartless. I cannot save the girl, but young Jerome here might be able to find someone who can."

The other bacca, Leonidas, was spluttering in anger, but he didn't argue with her. Instead he sullenly motioned for Jerome to follow him, but not before he glared at me, Adam, and Shadin.

The healer rolled her eyes at him, then spoke to Shadin and me. "Sorry about Leonidas. He is not very fond of your kind. He is one of our kind who blames all humans for Herobrine's deeds. However, that is not the reason that I came down here. I thought you might want to see the girl."

Shadin perked up immediately. "Can I?" she asked excitedly. The healer slowly nodded. She made to run up the pathway to the healer's hut, but the old bacca caught her arm.

"Your hand is hurt," stated the old healer, examining the wound, "I will bandage that when we get to my hut."

Shadin looked impatient. "Okay, now can we go?" The healer nodded, and Shadin shot up the ladders like an arrow from a bow.

Shadin POV

I rushed up to the healer's hut, ignoring the pain in my hand. When I got to the top of the ladders, I found the door locked. I shrugged and pulled a bobby pin from my pocket. I always kept a nice stash of them with me for cases like this. This lock looked pretty straightforward. It shouldn't be too much of a problem. Ten seconds later, the lock sprung open, allowing me access to my sister's room. I dashed inside.

I almost wished I hadn't.

My sister was in there, laying on a reed mat in the center of the room. Her torn up hoodie had been replaced with a black silken shift that revealed my sister's shoulders. She was shivering and sweating hard. Her eyes were squeezed shut, and she was muttering unintelligibly in her sleep. Her ebony hair was matted and dull, and her face was ashen. I could see dark veins through her pale skin.

My gaze moved to her arm, and I winced just looking at it. The spot where the torch had grazed was deep and blackened, and some sort of salve had been pressed on it. Blood still oozed through, although it was no longer black and sizzling. The rest of her arm was terrible as well. It looked like someone had taken a fiery whip to her arm repeatedly. Angry red welts had erupted all up and down her arm like snakes, and I could see them through the cotton bandages that they had been wrapped in. Blood trickled from beneath the soiled bandages. All around the site of the wound, blood blisters had bloomed.

I slowly walked to my sister's unburnt side and knelt down beside her. I took her good hand in mine, and dropped it almost immediately. It was hot and feverish, and it felt like there was a malignant energy pulsing through her blood. There was something terribly wrong here.

I sat back on my heels and just knelt there, horrified, until I heard the voice of the bacca healer behind me. "You did not wait for me to unlock the door."

I shook my head slowly without looking at her.

She sighed. "I had hoped to soften your pain at seeing her, but oh well."

Another person knelt beside me. Mitch. His hand found my good one and held it comfortingly. A shadow covered the doorway. It was Adam, standing awkwardly in the background. I twisted towards the healer as she began to speak again in a low voice.

"The fire was of the demonfire family. It was a particularly nasty strain, and it should have killed her immediately. As fate might have it, she has survived by some sort of miracle. However! She still reaps the effects of the demonic aspect of the blaze. This version of demonfire came with a built-in poison, and it also had a few other add-ons. Her blood that bled from the original wound was turned to acid, which in turn burned her arms. Demonfire burns can only rarely be healed by normal methods, no matter how small the burn, and since this was a lethal strain, we need a sorcerer to repair the damage done. This particular fire also cursed the girl–"

"Lexia," I interrupted. "Her name is Lexia."

"Very well. This fire cursed Lexia. The burns on her arm are in the shape of runes of dark power. She is now linked to someone, I don't know who, and her life energy can be drained by that person. Even if she does recover from the poison and the wounds, those runes cannot be removed except by a very powerful sorcerer. I have no magical power to save her. I only know herblore, and I have done what I can to treat the infection, but I can do no more for her. I'm sorry."

The gray haired bacca hung her head.

I opened my mouth to say that it was ok, she did what she could, but before I could speak, Jerome barreled into the room clutching a book, bowling over Adam in the process. "Guys! You'll never guess what I found!" he said excitedly.

He opened the book without waiting for us to answer. "I know where Seto is!"

Adam sat up, looking dazed. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!"

Mitch and I stood up, still holding hands.

"I'm sure you've told me, but who is Seto again?" I asked.

Sky answered, standing up again, "Seto was the resident sorcerer for Team Crafted. He was captured in an attack a while ago, along with Ian, Quinten, and Jason. And now Jerome says that he knows where he is."

Jerome looked proud. "We baccas keep a lot of records. We have files on almost every major person since, well, forever. I found Seto's current location in his file."

"So where is he?" Mitch asked.

Jerome grew a little fidgety at that. "That's the catch. He's in one of Herobrine's most secure facilities. The baccas refuse to send us any backup, and things could get a little hairy."

Sky nodded. "That's ok. A smaller group is better for this sort of thing."

"So, it will just be the four of us?" Mitch asked. Sky nodded, then Jerome. Everyone looked at me. I shifted uncomfortably. I didn't want to leave my sister, but we had to find this Seto guy. I looked at the healer, and she nodded as if to say, "it's ok, I'll take care of her while you are gone." I might be reading into that too deeply, but who cares?

I nodded at the guys.

Mitch held up his hand. "Hold on, your hand is still hurt."

Oh yeah. I had forgotten about it again. The healer moved closer to look at my wound. I cringed when she poured something on it to cleanse it, then she pulled out a clean linen bandage and wrapped it around my hand repeatedly. "Don't use this hand," she said sternly. I nodded obediently while thinking in my head that that would never happen. I use my hands a lot.

Mitch looked satisfied. I stood up, took one last look at my sister, and followed the others out the door, leaving Lexia with the healer.

Jerome led us to another tree hut on the far side of the clearing, presumably his. We walked inside, and the first thing I noticed was my sword lying on a table. Jerome walked over to it and brought it back to me. "I think you lost this during the fight."

I nodded and gratefully accepted my faithful sword, putting it in its over-the-shoulder scabbard. Mitch was looking around. "Nice place you got here, biggums."

It was kinda cramped with all of us in here, but I suspected it would be a nice, cozy place if it weren't so crowded. A bed sat tucked into a corner, and a table sat beside it. There was also a double chest beside a crafting bench. A single window looked out over the clearing.

"No time to waste: what's the plan?" I said.

"Uh, what plan?" said Jerome. We all stared at him for a second, then he quickly said, "Just kidding!" He placed the open book on the table. A picture of an iron complex was on one page, and there were blueprints on the other.

"Hey, I know that place," said Adam. "I passed by it in the city a couple times."

Jerome nodded. "This is the place. I've worked it all out..."

_-/~ Le Time Skip~\-_

We stood at the edge of the forest, looking out at the city. We had been over the plan so many times, I could say it in my sleep. It was simple in its essence. We would sneak in in pairs. Jerome had wanted to be with Mitch, but I wasn't familiar with either of the other two, so it was decided that I would go with Mitch and Adam would go with Jerome. Each group would enter through a different route: Mitch and I via the rooftops and the other two through the sewers. Mitch and I would disable the security systems while Adam and Jerome took care of the guards. Seto was being held in the maximum security section of the buildings. Unfortunately, none of the other members of Team Crafted were being held in this particular facility, but we needed Seto immediately.

"You guys ready?" I asked.

"Yeah, buddy!" said Jerome. The others nodded. "Lezzgo!" he shouted, only to be shushed by Adam.

Mitch and I took off for the city while Adam and Jerome left for a sewer access point. It felt good to be running through a field toward the city beside Mitch. I could almost forget that the land was being ruled by the white eyed demon that killed my family and that my twin sister lay possibly dying behind me. Again. Like I said: almost.

We reached the city gates in just a few minutes. The great iron gates were open, but there were three guards in iron armor bearing the crest of Herobrine, a bloody obsidian sword, standing in the opening. When we reached them, they barred our path with their arms.

"Halt!" cried the one in the middle.

Really? Could they get much more cliche than that?

"We are looking for a man by the name of Adam Dahlburg and a nameless young woman with jet black hair and strangely colored eyes. They are wanted by our lord Herobrine. Have you seen them?" said the one to our left. I immediately lowered my eyes and bowed my head, hoping that none of them had noticed my eye color.

Mitch answered, "I don't think I've heard of them."

The one from the middle said, "Very well, you may pass."

I sighed in relief and started to walk into the city, but I found another body blocking my path. This was the one from the right, the one who hadn't spoken this far, and he said suspiciously, "Wait a moment. Let me see your eyes again."

I took a deep breath. My head slowly rose, and I fixed the man with a deadly glare. His eyes narrowed and his hand moved to the hilt of his sword. "I'm afraid I must ask you to come with me."

I raised an eyebrow. "And if I say no?"

He drew his sword. "That's not really an option."

The other guards were looking at me. "Mitch, get out of here. Now," I said without taking my eyes off the guards. My tone left no room for argument. I bared my sword and readied my stance.

"Come at me, bros!" I shouted. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Mitch take off for a different entrance to the city. I slowly circled the trio of guards, who had all drawn their weapons. The righthand side guard was the only one who used a sword. The center guard had a mace, which he was swinging menacingly. The last guard wielded a wicked looking tomahawk. This would be interesting.

**Hi again, peepsles! I wasn't sure whether to end it off here, but laziness wins out! Yay! Cliffhanger! Btdubs, Mitch and Shadin's shipping name is #Sitch! Spread the love! I am accepting OCs, so here is the form! You can either leave your OC in the reviews or pm me. **

**Note: I need both male and female OCs. You can also have them be antagonists if you wish. Pairings are unlikely, but if you ask, I will try. No guarantees that they will be with the exact person you request.**

**Name: **

**Nickname (optional):**

**Gender:**

**Age:**

**Personality: **

**Looks:**

**Outfit:**

**Weapon:**

**Backstory (If you don't give me enough, I will make up some of it to make your character fit):**

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**Pairing (optional):**

**So there you have it! I guess I'll see you peepsles next chapter! Btw, do you guys have any information on why Husky, Deadlox, and Sky all left Team Crafted? Let me know in the reviews, please, if you do. It's been tearing me apart.**


	8. Chapter 7

**Welcome. I haz another chapter for you peepsles! First, though, there are some reviews to be answered!**

**Everyone who submitted an OC: THANK YOU SO MUCH!**

**Emde13: Yes, yes I do. And it's all good.**

**Blue Power1: That's what I think too.**

**ZZefyre: Thank you so much, and nice wording. I like that!**

**AAPface21: Heh heh, just wait...**

**Madiigamer: It means a lot to know that people love this story. Thank you so much! As I've said before, I usually update once on the weekend (mostly Saturdays) and sometimes in the week (usually Wednesday). Next week is spring break, though, so expect more chapters.**

**As of now, all OCs are being accepted, though most won't be showing up until later chapters. I still need a couple guy OCs, please. So far the only one I have is from Emde13, my amazing friend (go check out her stories, they are amazing!). **

**Now that that shameless plugin is over, there are a couple other things I need to say: Sorry, but I absolutely suck at writing fighting scenes. Also, I know I switch POVs a lot during this chapter, but please bear with me. I'm glad you guys have stuck with me this far, aaaaaaaand without further ado, the next chapter:**

**Chapter 7**

**_~Surprises come in all different shapes and sizes. Look for them all; the big ones are memorable, but the little ones light the darkness in between~_**

**Shadin POV**

I faced off against the guards. The mace whirled in the middle guard's hand. He lunged forward, intending to bludgeon me, but his body language screamed what he would do. I sidestepped easily, and slammed him on the helm with the pommel of my sword as he nearly fell over himself. He would be out for a while. I felt a little bad about fighting these guys. I mean, they are just innocent people paid to do their job. Who knows? Maybe they were even forced into labor. That didn't mean I would go easy on the other two, but I still felt bad. I turned my attention back to my opponents. The one on the left was looking a bit surprised and angry. He was probably one of the middle guard's drinking buddies. On the other hand, the righthand side guard seemed impassive. I sensed that he would be the most dangerous.

"Who's next?" I asked. The left guard came at me in a furious flurry of hard blows with his axe. I parried and swung at his head. He ducked and went for my legs, so I jumped over the swinging axe and rolled to the side. The guard came at me once again, bringing his axe down in a deadly arc. I blocked it with my sword and stood up all in one motion. He then kicked at my legs again, and my sword fell out of my hand as I landed hard on my butt. I felt the cut on my hand reopen as I braced myself. As he came in to knock me out with the handle of his axe, I lashed out with my right foot in a vicious cobra kick which sent him reeling. I snatched my sword from the ground and stood up again. My opponent eyed me cautiously as he regained his footing. He stepped forward and sent me a brutal strike with his whole body weight behind it. I was driven backwards a bit as I blocked, but I came back in a fury. I feinted to his right then struck at his left arm, the one he held his axe in. I heard a snap and knew that the bone had broken. He fell to the ground, clutching his arm. Two down, one to go.

The third guard, though, seemed unfazed. He was red-haired, with a scruffy, rough face. His green eyes were battle hardened, though the guard couldn't be more than twenty-five. He stood nonchalantly, yet he still had a cold, calculating gleam in his eye. He raised an eyebrow. "I hope you know that taking them out isn't really much of an accomplishment."

I didn't respond. He readied his blade as I did the same, acutely aware of my injured hand stinging like heck. We began circling each other like a pair of hungry wolves. His gaze was intense. I looked at his form, looking for any weakness I could exploit. His left leg was just a little longer than his right, so his figure leaned slightly to the right, but he compensated for that pretty well. His footwork was impeccable, so I couldn't really beat him there. He looked overall a good fighter, but I would put that to the test.

"I can do this all day long," I said.

He merely smiled a cold, humorless smile, showing perfectly straight teeth. "Glad to know."

This could go on indefinitely. I had to do something, and soon. We continued to circle. I glanced behind me. The open gate was at my back. _Pfft! Screw this guy!_ I turned and started sprinting away. I heard cursing behind me. Heavy footsteps echoed in my wake as the last guard gave chase. He called out something to another person whom I couldn't see. Citizens parted to let me through as I ran through a busy marketplace. I ducked into a narrow side street. There were fewer people here, so there was less of a chance of innocent people getting hurt. Shadows fell over the street. I looked up at the rooftops as I ran. There were other men in Herobrine's guard trying to keep up with me, jumping from roof to roof. They were having a hard time with their heavy iron armor, though. I risked a glance behind me. The guard from the gate was still there, chasing me. He was slowly gaining on me, and I don't know how with that armor on.

I skidded to a halt at a brick wall ahead of me. I looked frantically to the sides. No luck. It was a dead end. I heard the sound of a multitude of bows being drawn from above me. Crap. I hoped none of the bowmen had a twitchy finger. I slowly turned around with my sword in its scabbard and my hands in the air. I was met by a sword point in my face.

"Good. Now to take you to the base," the guard said. "Guys! I can take it from here."

The bowmen on the roofs slowly released the strain on their bowstrings and melted into the shadows. I knew they were still there, though. My good eye could see their outlines against the darkness. Best not to reveal that to my captor, though.

He took the sword from my back. He whistled upon pulling the blade from its sheath. "Nice blade! Who'd you steal this from?"

"It's mine. You'd better not damage it," I growled.

His eyebrows raised mockingly. "Or what? You'll slap me?"

I answered his question with silence, glowering. I hadn't thought of that.

"That's what I thought." He slid my sword back into its scabbard, strapped it across his back, and pointed his own sword at me. "Let's get going."

I scowled as he bound my hands with a piece of leather cord. He grabbed my upper arm in an iron grip and began dragging me at sword point back the way we had come from. It occurred that this might be the perfect opportunity to get into the prison where Seto was being held. The red headed guard turned us to my left when we got back to the marketplace. I looked up at the rooftops again. The bowmen had followed us thus far, but I noticed a figure on a rooftop a bit above them. I recognized that gray sweatshirt! It was Mitch! I slowly shook my head and hoped that he understood what I was trying to say.

Mitch POV

I was on a rooftop watching as Shadin was dragged away. She shook her head gently, as if warning me away. I nodded, knowing that she probably wouldn't notice. I looked at the bowmen standing a few stories below me, and I had an idea. My brow furrowed. It would probably fail, but either way I would be where I wanted to be. I stood silently and waited. After the bowmen had gone ahead, I slipped down to their level and followed the sound of their footsteps. I would follow them all the way.

After a few minutes of walking, the footsteps stopped. I stole ahead a few meters to see the bowmen clustered around a ladder. The rooftops ended just ahead. Looming large and dark ahead was the iron compound. My eyes narrowed as I saw the form of Shadin being dragged through a gate.

The bowmen had all made it to the ground, so I leapt to the ground and landed lightly on my feet. None of them seemed to have noticed me yet.

Good.

Adam POV

I wrinkled my nose as we crawled through the sewer. Jerome and I were on our hands and knees in a narrow pipe in a foot deep pile of. . . unspeakable things. I mean, I'm not even kidding: I almost threw up from the stench a couple times. I also tried hard not to think about the random lumps I found...

"Remind me never to volunteer myself again, Fluffy," I said to Jerome.

"Same here. Ugh, it'll take weeks to get this stuff out of my fur!" exclaimed Jerome.

"No kidding. Remind me to burn this outfit when we get back to the village," I replied dryly. We were quiet for a while, and the only sound was Fluffy and I moving through the. . . You know what? Never mind. I'd rather not think about that and then puke on Jerome, who was in front of me.

After a few more minutes, the bacca spoke softly. "What do you think is up with Mitch? He's not normal."

I frowned. "I think he fell off the cliff and lost his memory," I said, slightly confused by Jerome's comment. I thought he knew that.

He stopped ahead of me and turned his head to look back at me. "You never saw those cliffs, did you?"

"No," I said, my brow furrowing.

"No normal person could have survived a fall from the top of those. They are, I kid you not, hundreds of feet tall. You can't even see the bottom. And that's not all. Another thing confuses me: the spiders were only chasing him. The paid no attention to me, and they all dispersed after Mitch went over the edge. Then, come to find out, Mitch survived. There's also something strange about that whole area. Every time I visited the cliffs, nothing had changed: there was no new growth, no animals, there wasn't even any wind. It's unnatural."

His brown eyes were wide and scared.

"Don't worry," I said to my friend, "We'll figure it out, I promise. Maybe Seto can make a potion to help Mitch get his memory back. We can figure it out from there.."

Fluffy still looked nervous, but he continued crawling through the tunnel without another comment.

Shadin POV

Now that I think about it, this whole thing was working out quite nicely. I played the part of the defeated prisoner and acted meek and dejected. Of course, I didn't have to do much pretending for that last part, considering the current state of my life. The scruffy-faced guard was silent as he dragged me through the gates of the iron complex. I had to suppress a smirk of satisfaction as I got closer and closer to the person who, I hoped, would save my sister.

I looked around myself. Several smaller buildings were clustered around a huge one in the center. One appeared to be barracks for troops, and another looked to be a storage facility, and still others seemed to be for miscellaneous purposes. I could only guess what was in the colossal behemoth in the middle. The buildings were all on a relatively flat area with no trees, and the entire place was surrounded by a huge iron wall two blocks thick. More guards in Herobrinian armor patrolled the ramparts. There were three entrances including the one I just came in through. Adam and Jerome would be going through a secret entrance in the sewers. Mitch was still trailing behind me, as far as I knew.

The blueprints Jerome had found were old, and several of the outermost buildings were not depicted on there, so who knows what other remodeling had gone on since those were drawn? One thing was certain, though: there were cells in tunnels underneath all this. I knew they would still be there since there would be some major structural issues if those were destroyed. All the more reason for us to wreak some havoc on them on our way out. That part of our plan still wouldn't change. Jerome was carrying some TNT with him for just that purpose.

The guard jerked me forward again, disrupting my thoughts. We stopped again in front of the main door to the big building, and my guard spoke quietly to another guard who was standing sentry at the iron door. He nodded and opened the door to admit us. I stepped inside, noting that the door was controlled by a stone button on the outside, yet the door stayed open. Hmm. Must be a redstone toggle switch somewhere. I knew about redstone and liked working with it, but I always had neither the time nor the resources to do much with it.

The entryway was small and barren of color. Well, I suppose it wasn't exactly meant to be shown off to visitors, but I still found it drab and distasteful. Two other soldiers in iron Herobrinian armor were waiting. The red haired guard who had brought me here walked in behind me and the two other soldiers snapped to attention. "General Alverbachie! We were not expecting you to be here, sir!" cried one of them.

The red haired guard, apparently Alverbachie, sauntered up to them and said, "At ease. I need you two to take this prisoner down to cell block E."

Their eyes widened. "But sir, we don't have clear–"

"As of now, you both have clearance level Beta. Now go."

The pair exchanged a startled glance. I guess that was not very easy to obtain. Still looking starstruck, the pair took me by my shoulders and began marching me towards a door that looked to lead down into the tunnels. Alverbachie turned on his heel and left, the door being closed behind him.

The tunnel I was being marched into was lit by torches every ten blocks, and they were all on the left side coming down the stairs. I assumed that Seto might be in cell block E since that seemed to be the high security sector, so I let the soldiers guide me to the deepest level. There, I pulled out the sword of one of the two soldiers and stabbed him in the gut with it since my own blade was so rudely taken. The other guard looked at me in astonishment. That look will be frozen on his decapitated head eternally.

I wiped the blood off the blade on one of the soldier's tunics. I felt bad, but I still had a job to do. I walked down one of the long hallways, wandering around. I gagged at a disgusting stench coming from one oh the side passages. That must be Adam and Jerome. I followed my nose until I found the two boys standing in front of one cell, covered head to toe in filth. Adam noticed me and waved me over to them.

"You guys stink!" I exclaimed.

I jumped as a voice behind me said, "Yeah." I whipped around, then let out a sigh of relief. It was just Mitch.

"How did you manage to sneak up on me like that?"

He shrugged. "Awesomeness."

I rolled my eyes and turned back to Sky. "So this is it?"

He nodded. "We think so." I pulled out a bobby pin from the stash I kept in my pocket and knelt in front of the iron door. I examined the lock and groaned. It was a redstone lock, and I didn't have the equipment to figure it out, so I would have to manually take the door off its hinges and cut around the locking mechanism. This would be difficult and time consuming. I set to work on the hinges, knowing that we only had a few minutes before we were found. Adam looked very impatient. "Why is it taking so long?" he whined.

I rolled my eyes again. "Let me know if you have a better idea."

"Actually, I do." He brought up his leg and kicked the door down. I sighed in defeat, knowing that he probably just set off about ten different alarms.

I never even imagined what happened next.

**Hello again, peepsles! I hope you liked this chapter, and of course, it wouldn't be me without a nice cliffhanger. I'll leave you to wonder about what happens next...**

**Until next time, this has been Angel! **


	9. Chapter 8

**Hello, my beautiful peepsles! Here I am with another chapter! My goodness I have a lot of OCs! Please stop sending them. I thought I only had a few, then I checked Quotev... Anyway, all of them are accepted, and they will be showing up in the next few chapters. This time we have an OC from... Blue Power1**

**To the reviews! (Sorry to all my Quotev readers, since I haven't been answering your reviews in the past. So so sorry.)**

**Queen-of-the-nerds-Geeks: I find cliffhangers fun. Reactions like yours are the reasons I troll with people. You can just ask cat. And I am always grateful for awesomzing readers like you.**

**Madiigamer: Thanks for the OC!**

**Emde13: No probs. Thanks for . . . Not killing me?**

**MoovleeNinja: Glad you're so excited! Here is your update!**

**Guineapig126: Thanks for the OC and I will definitely keep on writing! (I think that's how you spell it...)**

**ZZefyre: Thank you for the cookie.**

**Everyone who reviewed on Quotev: I'm so sorry I haven't responded to any of your reviews yet. Cat only just told me today that I had any reviews at all on Quotev. A huge thank you to all you who gave me an OC. Never fear, your OCs will be included in the story.**

**And with that lovely note, let's get this show on the road!**

**Chapter 8**

**~Every challenge has a reward, usually proportional to the difficulty of the challenge. Whether you rise to meet it is up to you~**

**Shadin POV**

There was a brown haired, brown eyed guy sitting on a rusty cot in the corner of the dark cell. His face was crisscrossed by dirty slashes, and bleeding sores were visible through his tattered clothing. His brown eyes squinted at the sudden light that flooded the tiny room. He was wearing a set of ragged sorcerer's robes, and a thick metal collar encircled his neck.

He was stood up shakily and embraced the others, not having noticed me yet.

"Sky! Jerome! Mitch! You guys came!" the man, I'm assuming Seto, exclaimed excitedly. "How did you find me? And I thought you two were dead!" The last part was directed at Mitch and Jerome.

"It's a long story, and we need to get out of here," said Adam. I stood up shakily and walked into the cell. The sorcerer finally noticed me and froze. Something flashed across his face. Was it. . . fear? Whatever it was, it was soon replaced by astonishment. "Oh, and this is–" Sky began, but he was cut off by the man in the tattered robes holding up his hand.

"I would know this girl anywhere. That hair, and those eyes. . . I've missed you, Shadin," he whispered.

I looked at him in confusion. "Do I know you from. . ." I trailed off as realization dawned on me. "Jimmy," I breathed, almost too quiet for anyone to hear. I stood frozen in front of my long-lost brother. My brother's face split into a grin that I hadn't seen in almost twelve years. Now that I really looked at him, I could definitely see some of Dad's features in him, though he had Mom's hair, eyes, and slim frame. He stepped forward and wrapped me in a tight embrace. I hugged him back, my fingers digging into the torn fabric of his robes. Mitch was looking at us strangely, like he was hurt. The other two looked just plain confused.

"Wait, wait, wait. You two know each other?" Jerome asked.

Jimmy broke away and looked at me. "It's been way too long, little sis."

I smiled and nodded, turning to the other guys. "Jimmy is my brother."

They just looked at me in confusion. "Who's Jimmy?" Adam asked simply.

My brother turned back to me. "I go by Seto now, Shadin."

My brow furrowed, but I just shrugged. "Okay then. Seto is my brother."

Jerome leaned out the doorway and frowned. "Uh, guys, we should probably get out of here. Like, now."

We all nodded our agreement, hearing heavy footsteps echoing above our heads.

Jerome led the way out the door, followed by Mitch and Adam, then came my brother and me. When Seto set foot outside his cell, he staggered in pain. I turned to him, a worried look on my face. He was scratching at the collar as his face turned red.

"Shit!" I swore as I pulled another bobby pin out of my pocket. I found the keyhole on the side of the collar and inserted the pin, working it around until I heard all the tumblers click into place. The collar snapped open and my brother sighed in relief.

"Much better."

A voice came from behind me and I froze. "Oh."

I whirled around to find a girl who looked to be about fifteen or sixteen. She looked almost as surprised to see us as we were to see her. My hand flew to the spot on my belt that my sword used to be, but I belatedly realized that Alverbachie still had it. There were faint whispers in the air as my companions drew their weapons.

The girl took a step back and raised her hands, palms out in a sign of peace. Her dark brown hair was a sharp contrast to her light skin, but the thing about her that struck me the most was her eyes. They were a bright purple. Black and silver robes hung over her red blouse and white skirt. Her brown boots looked pristine.

"Well Seto, I was going to break you out, but it seems like you don't really need my help."

I looked over at my brother. He was smiling. "Nice to see you again, Nelly. As you can see, my friends here are already doing that." He pointed to each of us in turn as he said, "This is Adam, or Skydoesmincraft. Over here we have Mitch, or the BajanCanadian, along with Jerome. And this is my sister, Shadin."

Nelly smiled. "My job is a whole lot easier now. As much as I would love to go with you guys, I have other things to attend to right now." She grinned even wider. "I think I'll probably see you guys really soon. I just have this feeling."

Jerome spoke up. "You better get out soon, cuz this place is going up in flames in a few minutes," he said, holding a stack of TNT up so Nelly could see.

"I should be fine," she said with a wink. From somewhere in her robes she pulled an enchanted diamond sword. With a wave of it, she disappeared.

"Who was that?" asked Mitch.

Seto was staring at the place where the girl had disappeared. "I had no idea..." he whispered to himself. He turned to us. "That was Nelly. About a year ago she was taken here. We became friends, but one of our escape plans went wrong about six months ago. Only she made it out, and she promised to come back and break me out. That was her, coming back for me."

"Cool, but we need to get out of here." Adam motioned for us to hurry along, so I tossed the metal band which I had been holding aside and followed him. He and Jerome led Mitch, Seto, and me to a blank stretch of stone wall. Adam fumbled around, searching the wall for something. He grinned in triumph, and soon after a click echoed through the hallway. A small section of the wall slid back, revealing the tunnel that Jerome and Adam had entered through. I nearly puked at the rancid stench that emanated from the hole, but I followed the others inside. Jerome went last, placed some primed TNT, and pressed another button on the inside to close the panel. The sound of explosions behind us was oh so satisfying.

Seto began talking as we crawled. "So how did you two survive, Mitch and Jerome?"

Jerome answered from behind us all. "I found a bacca colony and they took me in, and we're not quite sure how Mitch survived, but he lost his memory after falling off this huge cliff."

Seto spoke again, a little more excited this time. "I can make a potion to help with that!"

"All right!" Mitch exclaimed.

"And what about you Adam? How have you been doing?"

Sky said, "I got caught poking around the city, looking for resistance groups. I escaped and found Shadin and Mitch. Then Shadin's treehouse got burned down and we were chased by some seriously demented wolves until we found Jerome with the bacca colony. Then we came to find you." I frowned. Why wasn't Sky mentioning Lexia?

We were quiet after a while, then my brother said, "So, Shadin, how's Nordis doing?" I froze as he continued. "And how's Lexia? You guys were always inseparable, at least last I knew. And little Jon, what about him?"

"Nordis burned down six years ago."

He was silent for a moment. I could tell that he was shocked. "W-what about Lexia? And Mom? And Dad?"

"Mom was killed by a skeleton when Nordis was attacked by Herobrine, and Dad died fighting him. Lexia is dying of a demonfire burn right now."

"What? Where is she?"

Mitch answered. "She's with the healer at the bacca colony. She's actually the reason that we came to find you first. Of course, we had no idea that she was your sister at the time."

We traveled in silence after that.

_-/~ Le Time Skip~\-_

As soon as we came out of the sewer access point, I knew something was wrong. The sky was darker than normal. The acrid smell of smoke was in the air, and it wasn't coming from the city. Adam swore, and we all took off in the direction of the bacca village. My brother was trailing behind us a bit as we ran, since he must have been tired from being imprisoned. I dropped back a bit to run alongside him. As we got closer to the bacca village, the smoke got thicker and the air became hotter. I could see an orange glow up ahead in the clearing about fifty feet from us. Shadows of a huge horde of zombies moved around in the flames.

Shit.

The others skidded to a halt, pulling out their weapons: Sky had his butter sword, Mitch still had the iron bastard sword, Jerome had his axe, and my brother murmured something under his breath to summon a silver and purple mist around his hands. I didn't stop and draw my sword, seeing as it was in the hands of General Alverbachie, so I did what my mind told me: I kept running.

Sky shouted for me to stop, but only one thing was running through my head: my sister was still in there, and I wasn't about to leave her behind again. A pair of furry arms tried to bar my path, but I dodged around Jerome. I continued on my path toward the burning colony. Finally, a ball of energy crashed into me, knocking me to the ground and pinning me there. I burst into tears and feebly struggled as I was hauled to my feet and drawn into a pair of strong arms.

Mitch POV

Seto held Shadin as she tried to escape and rush into the village. Eventually, she just collapsed into sobs and clung to her brother for dear life. He whispered something into her ear. Whatever he said seemed to calm her down a bit.

My fists clenched. It should have been me holding her and comforting her, not the brother who had been missing for more than half her life. It should be me. I cursed myself for not taking action. Jerome, sensing my mood, put a paw on my shoulder. "It's okay, biggums."

I opened my mouth to say something, but I was interrupted by Sky shouting, "Look!"

He pointed to another shadow outlined against the burning village. It looked like a pair of black wings. As it got closer, I could make out the form of a person in between them. Wait, no, two people. There was a man– no, an angel– carrying Lexia's limp form. The angel landed gracefully in front of us, kneeling and laying Lexia's body on the ground.

"We need to get out of here. Don't worry about the baccas, they will be fine, they already left for another village..."

He was still talking, but I didn't hear anything else that he said. My head started to ache and the world began to spin around me. Something about the dark-winged angel seemed familiar. Very familiar. I staggered backwards as images rushed through my head.

_I was falling. The face of my best friend looked down at me from on top of a cliff, screaming my name. Spiders swarmed on the cliff around him. An earsplitting scream pierced the air and I realized that it was my own. Jerome's face grew smaller and smaller as air whipped past my face. My body rotated midair and I was faced with a huge cloud. I opened my mouth to breathe, but the wind stole the air from my lungs. I shot through the clouds and my eyes squeezed shut in terror after I caught a glimpse of the rocky ground rushing up to meet me from far below. I braced myself for the impact that would surely come. Instead, it felt like I was being jerked upward by my hoodie. I opened my eyes to see that I wasn't laying broken on the ground, but instead was being carried by my red-and-black hoodie by a snowy-winged person. He was wearing a black suit and a red-and-yellow tie along with dark sunglasses. My mind registered confusion. I knew this person. He was one of my friends. Why did he have white wings? He grinned as he carried me. I grabbed ahold of one of his arms. Suddenly, his grin disappeared and was replaced by an agonized grimace. I flinched as an inhuman screech escaped his lips. His grip on me loosened, and I slipped from his grasp. He started swearing in a thick Bulgarian accent and grabbed for my hoodie again. He got ahold of it, but the hoodie was unzipped and I slipped out of it. The angel dived for me one more time. This time, his searching hand found a golden dogtag that hung around my neck. There was a snap, and the necklace broke off of my neck. _

_"Noooooo!" cried the angel in a pained Bulgarian accent as he veered off, his pure white wings slowly darkening to an inky black. He looked back at me wistfully one last time, powerful wings beating the air. His hand was outstretched. That was the last thing I saw before I felt a huge pain in the right side of my head, and everything went black._

**Welcome back to reality, my dear peepsles! Sorry if this chapter is a bit on the short side (compared to most of my own chapters), but we are now almost at the extent of my prewritten chapters! I honestly have no clue how things will turn out now. (Or maybe I do)**

**Anyhow, as I said earlier, Nelly belongs to Blue Power1. I should also add that the idea of Bodil40 being an angel/Fallen came from Coldstone4815's story, Fallen. I did talk to her about using him in my story. On another note, I no longer need OCs, thank you all. I will probably be posting more often since I am on spring break this week! And with that, I bid you all farewell! (I read way too many fantasy novels) :P See ya!**


	10. Chapter 9

**Hola! Salve! Guten Tag! Bonjour! Hello! Ciao! Oi! Salaam! Konichiwa! I don't know hello in any other languages, so sorry. I decided, "Heck, why not post another chapter, just for the heck of it!" Here's to hoping for SOPA to be stopped! I've taken down the note about sopa, but you can still find the link to the petition on several other people's profiles (I found it on coldstone4815's). But enough of that. In this chapter, I'm making up for not having an awesome cliffhanger last chapter and. . . I've said too much already. Also, THANK YOU PEEPSLES SO MUCH FOR OVER 1,200 VIEWS! YOU ARE AWESOME, AND DON'T YOU FORGET IT!**

**Reviews!**

**BlazetheDragonite: Yes, he is, and I have talked to Coldstone4815 about using Bodil in the story. Don't worry. Thank you for reminding me to go back and put in the credit.**

**ZZefyre: You seem to have a lot of cookies. Where do you get them?**

**Madiigamer: Glad you're excited, but please don't die. There's so much more to come.**

**Guineapig126: Poor you with no spring break... :'(**

**Ultimategeek: You'll find out a bit more about the Bodil situation in this chapter.**

**Blue Power1: I know it was short, and I'm sorry about that. I promise: Nelly WILL be in here more. I haz plans...**

**Walking in moonlight: I share your hope and love of fanfiction.**

**Emde13: Somehow I knew you would say that.**

**Spectral beats: Sounds good.**

**Bren: Glad you like it so much!**

**Owl Goddess: I honestly have no clue. Maybe three more this week, but that might be different for you since sometimes it takes a while for Cat to get chapters up on Quotev.**

**Anyhow. . . On to the chapter!**

**~What is life without a mystery or two to solve? Problems are the spice of life, and they are how we learn best~**

**Chapter 9**

**Mitch POV**

I came back to my senses as Jerome shook my shoulder. "Mitch, buddy? You're finally awake! You ok?" I shook my head. Now I had a helluva headache and I was laying on the ground. I blinked one more time. My normal senses were slowly returning. I sat up and groaned. Immediately I was pulled into a hug by Shadin, who was kneeling on the ground beside me. I slowly wrapped my arms around her, my head still pounding. "I was so worried about you," she whispered into my shoulder. A small smile lit my face.

"I'll be ok." After a few moments, she let go of me and sat back on her heels, smiling. Notch, she was beautiful.

After taking a moment to gather my thoughts, I looked around me and noticed that we were no longer in the forest. The terrain around all of us was very hilly, most likely an Extreme Hills Biome. "How long was I out?"

"It wasn't too long. Maybe a day or so," replied Adam, who was standing off to the side. Holy crap, a whole day? I shook my head again.

"How did we get here?" I asked.

"Seto teleported us," said Jerome, standing up. "Apparently this was the site of one of Team Crafted's backup bases at some point."

I swept my eyes around the landscape again. I didn't see anything that resembled a base. I did notice, however, that Seto and Lexia were nowhere to be seen. "Where did Seto and Lexia go?" I asked.

A thickly accented voice from right behind me said, "Seto is working on the demonfire burn on her arm, and he said he wanted not to be disturbed, so they're over some hill close by. The more interesting question right now, though, is what did you just remember?"

I turned to regard the owner of the voice. It was the angel from my memory, but his wings were folded up behind him. "How do you know I was remembering something?"

He took off his sunglasses to reveal shimmering eyes the color of fire. "Because you recognized me. You sat up straighter when I spoke," he said simply. What kind of answer is that?

Adam spoke up. "Now that you seem to be answering questions, since when are you an angel, Bodil?"

Bodil. Yes. That was his name.

The angel grinned, but it was humorless, and made even more so by his flickering eyes. "Technically, I'm not an angel anymore." He unfolded his jet black wings. "I'm a Fallen. If I were an angel, I would have white wings and sky blue eyes. As you can see, I have neither of those things. But, if it makes it any easier for you, feel free to continue calling me an angel. To actually answer your question, I have been an angel since I was created, two centuries ago. I could bore you with the process of how an angel is created, but I'd rather not. There are much more interesting things to be discussed, and there is not much time to do so. Oh, and I thought you might want these back, Mitch."

He fished around in his pocket for something. With a look of triumph, he pulled out a set of golden dogtags. MY golden dogtags, a voice in the back of my head whispered. My eyes widened as Bodil dropped them into my hand. My fingers closed around the cool metal.

The Fallen continued. "I can't stay for any longer since I am being hunted by the remaining angels, but there are some things you need to know. First off, Shadin: you and your sister are key to upcoming events. Don't ask me how, but just know that you are important. Second, your attempt to overthrow Herobrine will fail if you can't find him. You also need to find the true heir to Minecraftia. Most importantly, though, you should know that Notch is not dead. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to be away from here before the other actual angels show up."

He turned to leave, spreading his wings to take off.

"Wait!" I cried. He stopped for a moment, turning his head towards me. "What happened that day to make you Fall?"

He sighed. "You can't just tell a guardian angel not to do his job. Even if–" he stopped himself. The blood drained from his face and his flaming eyes widened. "I've said too much already." He turned and took off, his inky wings pumping as he got a running start and leapt off the ground. "Just remember: NOTCH IS NOT DEAD!" Bodil shouted over his shoulder as he flew away.

"I think we have more questions than we started with," said Shadin once Bodil was out of sight.

"No kidding. And what do you mean, 'that day,' Mitch?" Jerome said.

I explained about the memory and about Bodil's wings changing.

Just as I finished my story, a shout came from the other side of one of the hills. "Guys! You can come over here now!" Seto shouted. We all exchanged glances. Shadin and I stood up together, our hands entwined. All four of us began climbing a nearby hill. When we reached the top, Seto was waiting for us with a strange expression on his face. It almost looked like guilt...

"Lexia is this way." He led us down the side of the hill to a small cavern. Inside, Shadin's sister lay on the floor in the center of a complex-looking pentagram. She was looking much better than before. Her left arm was stretched out beside her, and the open wounds swirling over it had faded into black scars in the twisting shapes of runes. The gaping wound in her shoulder was healed, and a mark that resembled a rose adorned the spot where the flesh had been seared away. Her skin had a much healthier look to it, and she appeared to be peacefully sleeping.

"That demonfire was some nasty stuff," said Seto. "If you had come to any other sorcerer, Lexia would be dead right now. It's actually a miracle that she's made it this far. I wasn't able to scrub the runes, but I was successful in purging the poison. I did, however, make the runes harder for the person on the other side to draw energy from. They will have to consciously make an effort to get any power from Lexia. She should wake up any time now."

What did he mean by "If you had come to any other sorcerer?" Something about that seemed very strange to me.

Shadin let out a sigh of relief, and I squeezed her hand reassuringly, keeping my misgivings to myself.. Jerome smiled (I don't know why since he didn't know her). Adam had a relieved, almost giddy, grin on his face and a light blush on his cheeks.

Wait a second. Is there something there I am not aware of?

Jerome noticed too and elbowed Adam gently. "Sky, I haven't seen you smile that big since you discovered butter!"

Adam sheepishly looked away, and his face turned crimson. Shadin, Jerome, Seto, and I all burst out laughing at his reaction. "Shut up!" Sky exclaimed.

"Hey, you got to laugh at us, now we get to laugh at you!" Shadin said defensively.

Seto looked confused. "Wait, what?" Oh crap.

Jerome explained, "Adam and I caught Mitch and Shadin making out in a tree back at the bacca village." The sorcerer turned to where the two of us were still holding hands with his eyebrows raised. Now it was Shadin's and my turns to blush.

Seto shot Shadin a "We'll talk about this later" look. I had to hold in my mirth as she shot back an innocent "What do you mean?" face. He rolled his eyes at her.

"On to another matter," continued Seto through jokingly clenched teeth, "one of our old backup bases is somewhere around here. That means food, weapons, and a new change of clothes."

"Thank Notch!" Sky exclaimed. "Our current clothes stink!"

We laughed a little. It may not seem too funny, but in times like this, there's not really much to laugh at.

After our laughter died down a bit, our bacca friend spoke what was on all our minds. "Well, where is it?"

Seto started fidgeting uncomfortably. "That's the problem. I don't recall where it is. It was magically spawned in, so I never took a really good look at the surrounding area. I just remember that it was underground somewhere."

"You really don't remember?" I asked in annoyance.

"That was five years ago! Be glad I remembered the area and was able to teleport us here. I actually remembered, and that's more than I can say for you!" His finger stabbed into my chest on that last word.

Wow. That was just TOO far. Jerome came to my shoulder and put a hand on it. I shrugged it off, my fists clenching. "You better watch it, sorcerer."

"Or what? I'm the one with the magic." He snapped his fingers and purple and silver mist curled around his wrists. I glared at him as he did the same.

Shadin stepped in between the two of us, exasperated. "Guys, this testosterone-off is getting us nowhere. We need to be finding the base, not arguing!" Seto and I backed apart a bit, still leering at each other.

Sky clapped his hands together. "Okay! Let's split up and look for it. Seto, you're with me. Mitch, you go with Jerome, and Shadin, you stay with your sister. Everyone ok with that? Alright, let's go," said Adam so rapidly that I swear, that guy could be an auctioneer if he wanted to.

Seto and I opened our mouths to protest, but Sky and Jerome took us by the arms and began dragging us in opposite directions. I heard Shadin snigger a bit, so I shot her a playful glare over my shoulder. She stuck her tongue out at me from where she leaned against the hillside, and I couldn't help but smile.

"Go on," she mouthed, making a shooing motion with her hands. I rolled my eyes and turned to leave with Jerome.

Shadin POV

I slid down the wall as I watched Mitch disappear from sight. I came to rest a couple feet from my twin sister. "Notch, I love that boy," I whispered to myself.

I nearly jumped two feet in the air as a familiar voice beside me said, "Which one? Mitch?"

My head whipped around. Lexia was still laying on the ground, but her blue eye was halfway open, looking at me.

"How long have you been awake?" I asked her, artfully dodging her question at the same time.

"About a minute and a half, if I were to judge."

Whew. She missed the whole "Sky has a crush on her" thing. I got the feeling that he didn't exactly want her to know about that just yet, judging from the way he blushed crimson when Jerome teased him about it.

"How are you feeling, Lex?"

Her face twisted into a grimace. "Like crap. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm definitely feeling better, but I still feel like a tired piece of crap." She pushed herself up onto her elbows, both her eyes open now. "How long was I out?"

I thought for a moment.

"A little more than a day, I guess. The others just left to look for some secret base around here."

Lexia frowned. "Weren't we in a forest last time I was awake? And, my arm, wasn't it...?" She trailed off as she inspected her left arm closely. She seemed a bit surprised to see the runes and the black rose. Her finger traced over the jet black patterns. "How did these get here?" she asked.

"Demonfire," I answered. Crap, now it was up to me to tell her that someone else could take her energy and play with it. Why do I always seem to get the hard job? "The flame on the torch was demonfire. It's this magic sort of fire, and apparently this was a really bad type. It burned these runes into your skin, and now you have a link to someone. We don't know who, but we think it is a one way link that allows the other person to drain your power." I cringed, knowing that my sister had a huge temper, or at least she did six years ago.

Lexia's eyes slowly moved to mine. Her eyes were blazing with barely contained anger. "So you're telling me that now that I survived some magical fire, and who knows what else, now someone can just use my flipping energy whenever they want?"

Her eyes closed, and when they opened again, they were dull with weariness.

"Sis," I started, moving closer to her.

She turned away from me. "Thanks for saving me," she said, her voice heavy with bitterness.

I was starting to get a bit ticked off, but I held in my anger as I said, "I'm sorry. I did all I could. I had to find a sorcerer to heal you, but he wasn't strong enough to remove the runes." She said nothing. I smiled as an idea came to me. I was quiet for a moment before saying, "I know someone you might want to see." Maybe I could lift her spirits a bit. I knew she was terrible when she knew there was a mystery and she didn't know the answer. Her head perked up a little. Lexia turned back to me. "Who is it?"

"You'll have to find out! You up for a little hike?" I said, a broad grin splitting my face.

She nodded. "I think so."

I got to my feet and extended my hand to help my sister up. She took it and I pulled her to her feet. She almost fell over, but she steadied herself on the wall of the shallow cave.

"You sure you're ok?" I asked.

Lexia nodded stubbornly, as I knew she would. Taking one step forward, she promptly sank to her knees with a grunt. She sighed. "No. I'm not. Can you please just tell me?" A normal person might be more concerned about their inability to walk than about who the mystery person was, but, come on, this is my twin sister we're talking about. Neither one of us is exactly what you might call "normal."

"No."

"Please! You know I'm terrible with surprises!" she whined.

"Wait here. I'll only be a few minutes."

She huffed and crossed her arms as I took off sprinting in the direction that Seto and Sky had gone.

A minute later, I came across the shape of a butter ingot carved into the ground. I kept running in that direction until I found another ingot shape carved into the soft earth. This was the same symbol Sky used when he was in the forest. I kept following the trail of carved ingots until I heard the sound of voices coming from over the next hill over.

"I keep telling you, Sky, you don't need to carve all these butter ingots into the ground! I can just teleport us back!"

"So? What if you were. . . incapacitated?"

"Then you probably won't be around to follow the trail back. Plus, anyone could just follow it directly to us."

That was when I decided to step in.

"I hate to say it, Sky, but my brother's right. That trail leads right to you guys."

The two guys looked up at me where I stood at the crest of the hill.

Seto called up to me, "Shadin! Weren't you supposed to stay with Lexia?"

I began my descent of the hill as I replied, "Yeah, but she's awake. I need you to come back with me because I told her there was someone she would like to see. Personally, I don't fancy being murdered, so can I have a little help here?"

Seto sighed, but he was smiling. "Okay."

Sky spluttered, "But- But we still need to find the base! We'll lose our progress!"

My brother wasn't listening; he was chanting something under his breath. Purple and silver particles began to appear in the air around us, making a fine mist. I grinned at Sky. "Looks like your butter trail will come in handy after all."

The mist roared as it started to swirl around us, drowning out any reply he might have had. It soon shut me off from the world, threatening to suffocate me. I had a queer feeling, almost like I was floating upwards off the ground while tethered to the mist. I shut my eyes as I fought to keep my stomach under control. There was a rush of coldness, then my feet were on solid ground once again. I opened my eyes to see my twin sister scrambling backwards against the far wall of the small cave.

I grinned at her incredulous expression. "Surprise!"

She blinked at me, her mouth hanging open. "How- how did you- how did you do that?" I stepped aside to reveal Seto, who was standing behind me. Lexia frowned. "You're SetoSorcerer, right?" My brother nodded slowly, seeming a bit disappointed.

I should have known. "Don't worry, your sister didn't recognize him at first either," said Sky from where he leaned against the entrance of the cave. His words seemed to confuse Lexia, and she squinted her eyes. Her head tilted to the side, and she was deep in thought. I saw it the moment the thought clicked into her head: her frown disappeared and a look of astonishment replaced it.

"Jimmy?"

Seto broke out into another grin. "Good to see you again."

He and I moved to either side of my sister and sat down beside her. She was nearly in tears as she threw her arms around both of us. "I can't believe it! After all these years, it's actually you!"

Seto smiled warmly. "We're all back together again. That's all that matters right now."

Mitch POV

Jerome and I were walking through the tall grass of the plains, searching for something we didn't even know the appearance of. Jerome seemed to have something that was bothering him, but he didn't say anything to me. As we trekked through the featureless plains, I tried to start a conversation. "Did Seto seem, I don't know. . . suspicious to you?"

He looked at me with his head cocked to the side. "Whaddaya mean, suspicious?"

"I mean, he seemed uncomfortable, like he was hiding something."

"Mitch, you gotta put things in perspective. He's been locked away in a cell for who knows how long, being tortured and stuff by Herobrine. He just now got out and found out that the two of us weren't actually dead, his two sisters who he hasn't seen in over a decade are with us, one of them is mortally wounded, Bodil is some sort of angel thing, and on top of all that he had to work some magic to save all our butts. Of course he's not in the best shape!"

We walked in silence after that. Despite Jerome's speech, doubts still clung to my mind, but I kept them to myself.

So deep was I in my thoughts that I walked right into Jerome's outstretched arm. "You hear that, biggums?" he whispered into my ear. I stopped and strained my hearing. Quiet voices carried from beyond the next hill.

"Why is it always me who gets picked for patrol?" asked a deep voiced man.

"Oh, be quiet, Quinley. At least you didn't get midnight sentry duty," said a girl.

"I told you, call me Quinn, not Quinley!" whisper-shouted the deep voice.

Quiet laughter followed. "Whatever you say, Quinley," said the girl.

Jerome motioned to me and we dropped to the ground, creeping silently up the hill. I peered over the crest of the hill, my bacca friend beside me. There was no one there!

Jerome poked my arm. "Uh, Mitch?"

I turned to him, but my reply died on my lips. A sword was being pointed at his throat by a girl with a scar over one of her eyes. Her other hand held a sword identical to the one pointed at Jerome's throat. The girl looked like darkness made human. Her chocolate brown hair almost covered her other eye, which was the color of a black cherry. She wore a black tank top with purple flames at the bottom over black leggings tucked into black combat boots. She was looking at Jerome and me with a gaze that could freeze the Nether.

Another guy was pointing the tip of a diamond broadsword at my own neck. He was tall and muscular. His black hair stuck up around his head, starkly contrasting his blood red eyes. A green camouflage shirt stretched across his broad chest. He was smirking at me, his eyes gloating.

Behind the pair stood a boy. Well, I say "boy," but he was probably about fifteen years old. Despite his youth, he seemed to be the one in charge. One crimson eye peered at Jerome and me from behind jet-black hair. The boy wore a blue-and-black checkered hoodie over a red shirt, and he had on blue and red armbands as well as dark jeans and blue-and-white headphones.

"What should we do with these guys, Zek?" asked the guy with the broadsword and the deep voice.

The boy, apparently Zek, smiled. "Let's take them to AJ."

I exchanged a glance with Jerome.

"This can't be good" was my last thought before I saw the handle of the broadsword swinging towards my head and everything went black.

Ty POV

_Pain. All I know is pain. Excruciating pain. It takes the last of my reserves of strength to not cry out. That's exactly what they want. A sign of weakness. To cry out is to invite more pain. To cry out is to give up hope. To cry out is to forget who I was, who I still am on the inside. To cry out is to forget a promise. It's so hard, though. Every breath, every heartbeat is a lifetime of agony pressed into one second. It has been eating at my resolve for who knows how long, leaving me a mere shell, bereft of my senses. I might have been here a minute, I might have been here a millennium. Even now, I cringe at the thought of what my future might hold in this world of endless pain. My mental palace now prepares to fall. My rationality begins to falter and fade as my mind is washed in another wave of agony. A darkness licks at the edge of my awareness, tickling the ragged bits of my sanity. I recoil from its alien presence as it slowly insinuates itself further into my mind._

_Power surges through my veins as the darkness creeps further into my awareness, a corrupt, primal power that I cannot resist. I must bide my time and wait to overthrow the monster that is taking up residence within my body. For now, I retreat into a sort of mental haven, away from the ever-present pain, and let the darkness take over._

My now-violet eyes fly open and a wicked grin spreads across the face that isn't mine anymore.

**As if a single cliffhanger wasn't enough. Now you have Ty in lots of pain, plus Mitch and Jerome are in a questionable state at the hands of none other than ZEXYZEK! I couldn't have a fanfic without including my favorite YouTuber in here somewhere. Who is AJ? (Emde13, don't answer that, you know too much.)**

**The two OCs in this chapter belong to Emde13 and Guineapig126. If your OC hasn't shown up yet don't worry. They will. All will come in good time. Also, I'm so sorry all the OCs keep getting really short parts. They will be in here more, just not at the current moment. Anyway. . . We also have an awkward love triangle that none of the characters know about! Lexia was asleep when we found it, and Sky has absolutely no idea that Lexia and Ty like each other! I feel so evil right now.**


	11. Chapter 10

**OMG I'm so sorry! I told you guys I would update more this week but I've been really busy and yeah! I'm really sorry. Expect another update next weekend. Maybe. It takes a while to write since three or four thousand word chapters don't come out of nowhere. I'm really sorry. Another thing which I've been meaning to address is that four different people want their OCs paired with Jason (counting readers from both FanFiction and Quotev). There is only one Jason in this story, so I did a random drawing. The winner is orangebunny30! Again, this was totally random, and I'm really sorry to those of you whose OC wasn't chosen, but if you want to change your OC's pairing, let me know and I will see what I can do. The ones already taken and/or planned out are as follows: Sky, Jason, Ty, Mitch, Jerome, Jordan (who appears in this chapter) Quentin, and Seto. If you suggest another YouTuber for me to put in here that your character would be paired with, I might add them, but only if it would fit in the story. Now that that monkeywrench is out of the way. . . I'm too tired and in pain to do reviews right now. Sorry...**

**Lots of OCs in this chapter! Enjoy!**

** ~People will think what they will about you. Who you really are is a question only you can answer~**

**Chapter 10**

**Mitch POV**

My head was pounding as I came to. I opened my eyes a little, only to squeeze them shut again at the harsh light in my face. I tried stretching my arms, only to find that I was tied to a chair.

"Hey! AJ! I think he's awake!" said a girl's voice.

"Thank you, Neo, you may go now."

I heard the sound of a door closing, and the harsh light dimmed down a bit. I cracked open one eye to find a girl of about 21 studying me intently. Her dark brown hair was pulled back into a ponytail, and her large chocolate eyes were unreadable.

"Any last words, boy?" she said in a dark voice.

My face must have been funny, because she just burst out laughing. When she stopped, her face was split by a good-natured grin. "I'm just kidding. My name's AJ. But that's not the question. What I wanna know is who are you?"

This girl was starting to scare me. That must have also shown on my face because she laughed again. "Don't worry, I won't hurt you unless you give me a reason to." The grin disappeared. "So don't give me a reason to."

"M-mitch," I managed to stammer out. "Or at least that's what I've been told. I lost my memories a couple years ago."

AJ smirked. "So, Mitch. What're you doing in these hills?"

I decided to play it cool. "What's it to ya?"

The smirk vanished and AJ grabbed a fistful of my hair. "I ask the questions around here, not you." The statement was punctuated by a yank on my head. "Understand?"

Okay, so maybe that wasn't my best idea.

"Okay, okay! We were looking for the old Team Crafted base around here."

She released my hair and stepped back. "Much better. Now who's this 'we'?"

Crap. I've said too much already. "You know that bacca I was with? It was him and I."

She sighed. "Lying won't get you anywhere with me. I've seen too much of it."

I felt the blood drain from my face.

Just then, the door burst open. A man with a suit and red sunglasses stepped in. He seemed really familiar. Like, I-haven't-seen-you-in-forever-but-you-were-a-friend familiar.

Yeah. Words aren't one of my strong points.

"AJ! Stop! He's friendly!"

AJ seemed to deflate a bit. "Awww, come on, Jordan. We were just getting to my favorite part! This job doesn't have many perks, you know."

"I know, I know, but we already know who he is."

AJ looked confused. "We do?"

"You do?" I echoed.

Now it was Jordan's turn to look confused. "Of course I know you, Mitch. You look almost the same as you used to. At least, with a little imagination. Of course, Jerome telling me helped a bit too."

I turned my eyes skyward. "How is it that everyone knows who I am but me?"

"What do you mean?" asked Jordan.

AJ piped up. "He told me he lost his memory a couple years ago. I'm assuming that's when he got that huge scar."

I nodded while Jordan shook his head sadly. "Well, I suppose you should meet the rest of us."

I frowned. "Wait, who's 'us'?"

"The rebels," AJ answered. "I suppose I have a bit of explaining to do. About three years ago, just after the attack on Team Crafted, most of the famous or iconic people were hunted down by Herobrine. I found Jordan, who was known as Captainsparklez, mauled by hostile mobs and left to die. He was close to death, so I nursed him back to health. We soon discovered that people who felt the oppression of Herobrine's tyranny the hardest would flock to surviving celebrities. We've found people who had their homes destroyed, had their families killed, ran away from home, escaped from Herobrine, or even deserted him. We've even had a few spies and infiltrators, which is why I interrogate everyone we find. Sorry you were treated so roughly. The people on patrol didn't recognize you two. Now that Jordan says it, you do look kinda like what TheBajanCanadian used to look like, just with a scar and a different colored hoodie. You and the bacca will be staying with us now. We can't let anyone find us. You won't be leaving anytime soon."

"What?!" I exclaimed, thinking of Sky, Seto, Shadin, and Lexia. "But-"

Jordan cut me off. "I'm sorry, Mitch, but this is the way things have to be. Security is one of the most important things we have here. Almost everyone has a code name or a nickname. No one gets out once they're in. If we let anyone leave, then we have a security breach. If we have a security breach, that puts some of our informers and agents in jeopardy. If we're exposed, that spells the end of all of us. Then Herobrine's won already. The resistance is over. All the people in prisons or work camps will be stuck there. Forever. And we can't let that happen. I'm sorry. It's our lives or theirs."

"And so you're forcing that choice on anyone you find?"

The pair exchanged a glance. "You haven't been in those prisons, have you?" AJ said quietly. "Have you seen some of the villages they burned down? Nothing left. Not. A. Thing. When people come to us, the stories they bring are almost beyond imagination. Torture in prisons. Giant wolves eating their families alive. Slavery in the End. Some of them were in Herobrine's service, then they left because they saw how evil he was."

I huffed. "For your information, I rescued someone from a prison, I've seen one of the villages that was burned down, I've been attacked by the same giant wolves you are talking about while carrying the burned body of an End escapee, and my girlfriend is a survivor of a village attack."

Jordan's eyebrows shot up. "Well, I stand corrected. If you've seen all those things and you still don't want to help us, then you are seriously messed up from that memory loss. That's not the Mitch I knew."

My shoulders sagged as much as my bondage would allow. "No, it's just that I'm worried about my friends. The ones I was talking about. They're still out there, probably wondering where Jerome and I are. I need to get back to them."

AJ's face lit up. "I knew you were lying when you said it was just you and the bacca!" she exclaimed proudly. I raised an eyebrow at her. "What?" she asked defensively. "It's hard being leader, and I don't have much to cheer about!"

"You're leader?" I asked skeptically.

She rolled her eyes. "Technically, Jordan and I share the leadership, since we are kinda the founders of this little group, but he can be a real lazy butt sometimes."

"Hey!"

AJ snickered. "Well, we'd better untie you and let you meet the rest of the team."

As Jordan went about untying the knots around my wrists and ankles, I asked, "What about my friends?"

AJ frowned for a second. "We can take you guys in. After you've met the team, you can lead a patrol to pick them up. I promise not to interrogate them as harshly as I did to you." Then she resumed smiling.

Jordan stood up and I rubbed my hands to get the circulation going again. Pins and needles stung my extremities as I stood up to follow AJ. She led me out the door and into a hallway lined with doors. "You go down this hall, take a left, and keep going. It should dead end in a pair of double doors. Go through them. Your bacca friend is probably already there. I need to talk to the rest of the crew, but we'll be there in a few minutes."

I started down the hall, per AJ's instructions. A couple of the doors I passed were open. In one room were Quinley and Zek, the two guys from the patrol that found Jerome and me. Quinley had his nose buried in a book, and Zek appeared to be listening to music on his headphones. He gave me a halfhearted wave as I passed by.

Another room looked to be an armory. There was a girl in there sharpening an obsidian sword. She was wearing a black hoodie, pink shorts, white boots, a dark green shirt, and lime green headphones. On her back looked to be. . . Wings? Her hard green gaze met mine. "It's not polite to stare, you know."

Muttering an apology, I quickly turned and kept moving. I wasn't exactly making too many good first impressions here. I shoved my hands into my pockets and kept my head down as I walked the rest of the way to the double doors.

Pushing open the doors, I found Jerome sitting at a table in a large cafeteria, deep in thought. He looked up from his thoughts and grinned as I walked over to him and sat beside him.

"How you doing, biggums?"

I halfway smiled. "Good, I guess. AJ was kinda rough in the questioning, though."

"Oh. I had Jordan. It's been years since I've seen him, so we were chatting it up pretty nicely. Then he asked who you were. I told him, and he looked surprised, then told me to come here and rushed away."

I nodded. "Yeah. He ran into the room I was in and told AJ to stop questioning me because he knew who I was."

Jerome nodded sagely. "So who's this 'AJ' guy?" he asked a couple moments later.

"Girl, not guy. I dunno what it stands for. Apparently she and Jordan are the leaders here. By the way, did you get the whole lecture on the fact that we can't leave?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"And you still agreed to it?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't I? In case you didn't recall, our purpose here is to find the rest of Team Crafted and overthrow Herobrine. These people have the same goal in mind. They can help us!"

I nodded slowly, understanding his meaning.

Just then, the doors opened. A group of people filed into the cafeteria, forming a loose semicircle around us with Jordan and AJ in the center. There were thirteen of them that I could see, and most of them were whispering. Including Jordan and AJ, there were nine girls and four guys. Jordan clapped his hands together, signaling for silence.

"Alright everybody. These are Jerome and Mitch, formerly known as JeromeASF and BajanCanadian, two of my old friends. They are our newest members."

This sparked a new bout of whispering. I spotted a familiar face among the group. Nelly. Apparently Jerome noticed too, since he said, "Hey! You're that girl from the prison!"

Nelly smiled and shrugged. "I told you we would meet again." The whole group turned to her.

A girl with red and purple hair, a black hoodie, camo jeans, a red bandana on her head, and magenta eyes asked, "What do you mean? You know these guys?"

Nelly nodded. "Remember that personal thing I said I had to finish? It was to bust a friend out of prison, but these guys beat me to it." She turned to Jerome and me. "Where are the rest of your friends?"

Jerome and I exchanged a glance. "They're still out in the hills somewhere," I responded. "After we meet all you doods, I'm going to find them and bring them here."

There was an awkward silence until the girl with the magenta eyes said, "I'm Scarlett, but you can call me Scar." She held out her right hand, which was encased in a black glove. I shook it. That girl had a really firm handshake.

"Why do they call you that?" I asked.

A pained expression crossed her face. "After my mom and my brother died when I was four, my dad beat me relentlessly. I ran away, but I still have the scars from it." She pulled at the fringe of her bandana to reveal the edge of a scar. Tugging it back into place, she shrugged and said, "But then again, you're no stranger to scars yourself."

My hand moved to my own scar, tracing its outline. "I fell off a cliff, and I probably should be dead, if it wasn't for Bodil40."

"What does Bodil have to do with anything?" AJ asked, confused.

Jerome answered. "We honestly don't know. He's an angel, or at least he was an angel, and I think he knows more than he let on. He saved Mitch's life when he was chased off a cliff face by spiders."

I nodded.

Next up was a pale girl with a brown ponytail, a green jacket, faded pants, grey hiking boots, a hole in her right ear, and a rabbit tattoo on her wrist.

"My name's Neo, and I'm the resident medic here. Well, my real name is Abbie, but everyone calls me Neo because before I came here I went by the name Neochambers. My little brother, Isaac, isn't here right now since he's sleeping, but you'll meet him eventually. Our village was destroyed in one of the battles between a bacca tribe and Herobrine." Jerome looked down sheepishly as Neo pointedly looked at him. "My little brother and I lived on our own after that. We moved from cave to cave and we learned survival skills. I also learned how to heal with herbs. I found the rebels after sheltering HuskyMudkipz for a while. I think it was after the attack on the Team Crafted base. He had escaped and was being chased by Herobrine's zombie legion, but He found my brother and I in a cave, and we hid him for a couple weeks. One day, he just left, leaving only a note saying that he couldn't put us in danger any longer, and that he would come back for us when he could. About a month later, the rebels found us. That's my story."

Jerome looked up and met her gaze. "I'm sorry that my people are part of the reason you lost your home."

Neo shrugged. "It's okay. I've had the adventure of a lifetime, and now I have a new home, the rebels."

I didn't really know how to respond to that. I was saved by the girl from the trio that found Jerome and I speaking up. "I'm Wolf."

Jerome spoke. "Nice to meet you, Wolf. Is that just a nickname or what?"

She shook her head. "Just Wolf. Sorry if I might seem cold at times, but there's only so much a person can handle, and I've seen a lot more at Herobrine's hands than anyone should have to endure." And that was the end of that discussion.

The next girl's favorite colors seemed to be gray, black, and pastel green. She wore a gray hoodie, a gray and pastel green headset, ripped knee-length black shorts, black and pastel green sneakers, gray fingerless gloves, and gray and pastel green leg warmers. Her eyes were a few shades brighter than the pastel green of her clothes, and black hair hung down to her waist. "My name's Rio! That's short for Riozuke, by the way. After you guys, I'm the newest person here. I can say without stretching the truth that I am the best hunter of our little group here, probably because I lived on my own for twelve years and learned how to tread silently. For the first seven years of my life, I was locked in a bedrock box with no food or water. I—"

"Wait, how did you survive?" I asked.

Rio shrugged. "There was some spell or another. Anyway, there was this traveller, and they busted me out somehow, and since then I have lived on my own. About a month ago, I found the rebels and joined up. Sky was my inspiration for joining. I met him back before you guys were really famous."

"Cool story," I said. "You'll get to see him again before the day's over."

She looked excited. "Really?"

I nodded. "He's one of my friends who we're finding after this little session."

More whispering. Quinley cleared his throat. "I'm sorry we got started on the wrong foot. I'm Quinley Patterson. But don't call me that, or you'll wish you hadn't. Call me Quinn."

Zek sniggered beside him. "Oh, shut up, Quinley. We all know you won't back up those words. Anyway, I'm Zek, also known as ZexyZek. My village got burned down, but I went to a city and gained a bit of fame. And because of that, now I have an evil demon king after my life. So yeah."

Jerome nodded. "I've heard of you. I have a question, though. Is that your real name? If it is, you must have had awesome parents."

He winced almost imperceptibly at the mention of parents. "No, it's not my actual name. Some of us don't choose to share that. Take her for example." He nodded at AJ. "None of us know what her name stands for."

"And that's the way it's going to stay," she shot back, sticking her tongue out at him.

Rolling his eyes, another guy with budder eyes and clothing, right down to the shimmering cloak, stepped up. "My name's Brendan, but everyone calls me Dagazar."

"Why's that?" Jerome asked simply.

Brendan pulled out a gilded dagger and tossed it in the air. "This." He deftly caught it and flung it at a wall, where it split the stone and stuck there, quivering.

My eyes widened. "Remind me not to get on your bad side."

Dagazar laughed. "Don't worry. It's pretty hard to get me mad."

"Yeah. In all the time he's been here, I've never seen him get mad at someone else." This bright comment was coming from a girl with violet eyes and black hair. She had on a black and purple dress and purple sneakers, and two big black bows on her head. A tail dangled behind her. "My name's Angel. Well, really, it's Angel of Darkness, but that's way too much to say at once. I am a wolf hybrid, in case you haven't noticed yet. When I was young, I was found by Herobrine's army. I stayed with them until I realized that what was happening was wrong. Then I left and found the rebels."

"Wow. That's gotta be strange," I stated.

Angel looked a bit ashamed. "It was all I knew."

AJ seemed to see that this could end badly very soon. "But we don't hold that against you. Right, everyone?"

There were murmurs of agreement.

"And if anyone says differently, they'll have me to deal with as well!" declared a girl with long black hair with dark blue streaks, light blue eyes, a dark blue and dark grey hoodie, black pants, red shoes, and a set of headphones that matched her hoodie. "I've already lost one friend recently, and I'm not losing another."

With that she turned on her heel and strode out of the room. I stared after her. What was that all about?

The last girl who hadn't introduced herself turned to us. She was the girl I had seen in the armory. "That was Spectral Beats, or just Spectral. She's had a rough time these past few days. Her best friend, Raine, was killed just a week and a half ago in a skirmish with Herobrine's soldiers, and she hasn't been the same since. I mean, don't get me wrong, we all got kinda messed up, but. . . She took it really hard. Like, I'm honestly surprised she came out here to meet you guys. She's been in her room crying ever since Raine died." She paused, looking at us expectantly. Then her eyes widened. "Oh! I'm sorry. I'm Endyr Serifi, or just Endyr, or ES. My village was 'visited'"–she held up air quotes– "by Herobrine and an Enderman found me wounded. I was, ah, experimented on, and when they were done with me, I got back to the Overworld with these babies." She extended her black wings. "Then I found the resistance and joined up."

My brow furrowed. "When you were in the End, did you happen to know a girl with black hair, one blue eye, and one silver-and-red eye?"

Endyr thought for a moment, then she snapped her fingers. "No, but I heard stories about her from other people since the experiments and the slaves were kept apart for the most part. The Enderman guards say she was a black enchantress who was born of a demon and an angel, but that sounded like bs to me. The few slaves I ever spoke to say she never talked to anyone. I'm pretty sure those stories aren't true, though, and the ones I have are about four years old. Why do you ask?"

I shrugged. "She's our friend."

"Oh." Endyr looked uncomfortable. "I'm gonna go check on Spectral." With that, she hurried out of the room.

AJ took the floor again. "Angel, Zek, and Nelly, stay. The rest of you are dismissed." The three people whose names she called out sat down at the table with Jerome and I. Jordan and AJ stood over us. "Okay guys, here's the plan. Zek, you're going to take Mitch and Jerome back to where you found them. Angel, Nelly, you guys are along as guards. You guys are going to be finding the rest of Mitch and Jerome's friends. On the way, I expect you guys to fill them in on how we do things. Everyone okay with that? Okay, now go."

Ty POV

It was dank and cold. I was sprawled face-first on the ground, and my whole body hurt. For once, the darkness in my mind was not stifling, and I had control of my movements. I started moving myself, but everything hurt too much. There was something different, though. An extra weight hung on my back. When I finally gathered the strength to open my eyes, I found that I could see perfectly. What I saw would forever change my life.

The cell I was in might have looked like obsidian at some point, but right now the black walls were stained red with blood. My blood, I realized with a start. I struggled to my knees, retching at the pain that accompanied the movement. As if I actually had anything in my belly to throw up. As convulsions racked my body, muscles that I didn't know I had extended, screaming in pain. I fell forward again, wanting nothing more than to curl up and die.

No, I thought to myself. I have to live. I have to live for her.

I clawed my way over to the wall and used it to lean on, not trusting my shaking legs. Something was getting in my way, though.

Something big, black, and leathery.

I froze, not daring to look back at my back. My left hand felt its way slowly up my back until it found a spot between my shoulder blades. There was a protrusion where nothing should have been, and my hand was cold against the tough skin of my new extremities. A sinking feeling settled in my gut.

No. This couldn't be happening. No. I refused to believe it.

A voice chuckled in the back of my head. "Oh, Ty. Don't you see? It's already happened."

My hoarse scream rang out as the darkness overtook me once again.

**Again, I am SO SORRY it took this long to get this chapter out. I dunno why, but this chapter took forever to write. Between having family in town and the general annoyance/agony/negativity/complications of having a broken back that isn't healing quite right, I've been quite busy. Just a word of advice, NEVER BREAK YOUR *Beeeeeeeeeeeeeep* BACK. IT SUCKS. That rant aside, I'll see you peepsles later! Angel out!**

**edit: Crap! I forgot all the credits! I don't actually own any of the characters in this chapter. The OCs belong to their creators, and the YouTubers own themselves. Sorry about that!**


	12. Chapter 11

**What's up, all you beautiful peepsles? It's Angel with another chapter of The Ones Left Behind! This story still has quite a ways to go, and I'm planning on around 25-30 chapters. Of course, that is very loose and subject to change at this point. Like I've said before, I have wonderful plans for this, including a possible sequel. I think I still have a few tricks up my sleeve. Heh heh heh. Anyway, now that I'm feeling better, I have a couple chapters' worth of reviews to answer, so lets get to it!**

**Queen-of-the-nerds-Geeks: I like my cliffhangers. They're fun to leave, and the reactions are even funnier!**

**Madiigamer: I'm glad you're writing! I was the same way for a while. This story actually languished in my notes for a few months before Cat finally persuaded me to post what I had written. Let me know when you do post it, and I will read it and give you feedback if you want. Please don't hurt yourself. You are one of my awesome peepsles, and thus you are amazing. Don't you forget it!**

**Blazethedragonite: That sums it up pretty nicely. And I had a little personal celebration when the petition reached 100,000 signatures.**

**Blue Power1: Just wait and see. And although it may seem like I'm pairing Seto and Nelly (sorry, couldn't help that), I actually have different plans (i.e. someone else asked for their OC to be paired with Seto, and since you said you didn't really care, the other person gets him. Sorry for any confusion). Nelly might not be paired with anyone in this book. Is that okay? Next book is a possibility, but probably not this book.**

**ZZefyre: Personally, I'd have to choose Ian, but Ty is a close second.**

**Turtlelove2: I'm glad you like it so much! To be entirely honest, I only have a loose idea of where this is going, too.**

**orangebunny30: Your OC. . . I'm not actually certain when she'll show up. Somewhere between chapters 15-17, if I were to guess. Don't worry. And I broke my back either in soccer or volleyball. Believe it or not, I'm not sure which. I had practices in both sports on the same days, and one day my back just kinda started hurting. We didn't get a diagnosis until two months later. Thanks for expressing concern!**

**TooLazyToSignIn: Ich glaube daß du bist UltimateGeek. Ich spreche Deutsch auch, aber es ist nicht sehr gut. Yeah. My grammar might not be the best (thanks a lot, Rosetta Stone), but I like to speak in German, too :D**

**GXAtailsmo: It's all good. I don't expect everyone to review for every chapter. And I'm glad you find it so awesome!**

**Jsward32 with Endyr Serifi and others: Its all good. I fangirl when my OCs are in stories, too.**

**By the way, sorry if its a bit shorter than my other chapters. I had some writer's block this week, but then I got some inspiration for the next few chapters. Anyhow, enjoy!**

**~Lost doesn't mean gone. It just means away for a while. Most things will turn up with patience~**

**Lexia POV**

I still couldn't believe it. I was sitting here with my siblings. No one was fighting us, no one was chasing us, no one was mortally wounded. It was peaceful. For the first time in six whole fucking years, I could say that truthfully. Sure, there was still stuff that needed to be done, but I was doing my best not to think about that. I was sitting blissfully, leaning against my elder brother and listening to my twin ramble on about everything that happened while I was in a burn-induced coma. Apparently, I missed a lot. Every so often, Sky would interject with some funny comment or detail. This pattern continued for a couple hours. When the two of them had exhausted their store of stories, we all fell into a comfortable silence. Shadin fell asleep, Seto had been snoring for the past few minutes, and even Sky was starting to yawn. I wasn't really sleepy, considering that I just came out of a coma, but that was fine by me. I was content to sit peacefully for that time, not worrying, not fighting, not running. Just relaxing. For that one moment, everything was perfect.

But, as you may know, nothing perfect in my life lasts forever.

At question came unbidden to my serene mind. I tried to ignore the offending thought, but to no avail. The question needed asking, and soon. Preferably before Sky fell asleep.

"Sky?" He looked up drowsily, blinking. "Where are Mitch and Jerome? Shouldn't they be back by now?"

He mumbled something that sounded like "shit" and stood up, stretching luxuriously. "Yeah. They should. I guess I'm gonna go looking for them."

He started towards the mouth of the cave.

"Wait, are you planning to go alone?" I asked, concerned.

"That was the idea, yes."

"I'm coming with you."

He turned back, one eyebrow raised. "Are you kidding? You can't even walk! You'd only slow me down."

I braced myself against the wall behind me and shakily staggered to my feet. "I'm coming whether you like it or not." I was proud of how my voice didn't waver. Standing like this required most of my energy.

Adam sighed exasperatedly and came back to put an arm around my shoulders. As we started out, I was glad for the support. I nearly stumbled twice before we got fifty feet. "You sure about this?" Adam asked.

I nodded stubbornly. "I'll be fine soon. I just need to use my muscles a bit more."

We kept walking, and my prediction proved true. After a few minutes, I was able to walk on my own, my energy levels back to normal. Every so often, Sky would ask if I was okay, even if he could see that I was doing fine. I nodded every time. After about the millionth time, I was getting fed up. I was preparing a speech when I saw the almost-laughing grin Adam wore. I rolled my eyes and shoved him lightly.

"Is that how it's going to be?" asked Sky, laughing. "Well, two can play at that game." He pushed me and I stumbled to the side, grinning. Sky saw the look on my face and started running. I laughed and ran after him, keenly aware of how hard it was to run in the dress thing the bacca healer had given me.

Soon, my limbs felt leaden and I was puffing. Guess I wasn't all better after all, since my normal stamina was much higher than this. I came to a stop, bent over with my hands on my knees. "Sky!" I wheezed. "Wait up!"

Then I noticed that I couldn't see him anymore. He must've gone over the next hill. Still, he should've been able to hear me, but he didn't come back. "Sky?"

After catching my breath, I climbed up the hill to look for him. Looking down from the top, I saw him laying down halfway up the slope. Confused, I picked my way down to where he lay.

Too late, I saw the dart sticking out of the side of his neck. Too late, I noticed the cave in the ground twenty feet ahead. Too late, I saw the man sticking his head out of the cave. Too late, I saw the dart gun he was holding. Too late, I noticed the dart in my leg.

My last thought was _Oh, shit._

Mitch POV

Nelly, Angel, and Zek led us to a long tunnel that spiraled upwards. We must have been underground. All the way, Angel was talking to us. "Don't mind AJ. She's kinda rough in the interrogations and when she's mad, but under that she's a really good leader. I dunno what her story is, but I always get the impression that it was really hard, and that's why she seems so tough. Oh, yeah. We're supposed to be telling you how we work, not gossiping about our leader. Sorry about that." She scratched the back of her head. "Umm, where to start?"

Nelly cut in. "Let's start on duties and the schedule then go from there. We work on the old scheduling. You know, from before the stars fell? We use a twenty-four hour day, just to make things a little simpler. There are two daily patrols: one at eleven hundred hours and one at nineteen hundred hours. That's seven p.m., by the way. Each patrol is three people, and there are three night shifts of sentry duty. One person at a time stands guard in the room at the end of the tunnel, since that's the only way in or out of here. We eat three meals a day, and the patrols gather food as well as look for intruders. Free time is, well, free. Some people have their different hobbies, but a lot of people like to train. Let's see. . . Every so often, our little band is discovered and we have to move to a new locale. Zek, am I missing anything?"

He shook his head. "Not really, at least on that count. I'm gonna explain people's roles in our group. AJ and Jordan are the co-founders of the group, but AJ does more of the leading and Jordan does more organizing stuff. Wolf is our techie. She loves redstone, but don't underestimate her. She's nasty in a fight." He looked like he wanted to say something else about that, but Nelly gave him a small shake of her head. "You haven't met Daybreak yet, but she's our spy. She works in Herobrine's army and feeds us information by sending us messages with her cat, Sunset. Let's see. . . Neo's our healer. She does wonders with herbs, but sometimes Nelly helps her if the injury requires magical help. Endyr is the armorer. Spectral and Raine used to be the ones who would train the new recruits in fighting, but now. . ." Zek trailed off.

Angel picked up the slack. "We're not quite sure how things will work out now. I might take their place, at least until Spectral's feeling up to it. Dagazar will probably help, too. Or I might have nothing to do, depending on how good you guys are. You two and Sky have a pretty good rep."

"I think we're all pretty good," I said, "At least, as far as I know. Shadin—" Zek looked up sharply "—is amazing, and Lexia has personally kicked the poop out of me, so they're pretty good. Something about their dad being a swordsmaster or something. Seto uses magic, but I haven't seen him fight. But I haven't seen what you guys are like, so I can't really compare us to you."

Jerome laughed. "You never told me Lexia kicked your booty!"

I shrugged. "It didn't seem important when we found you, and I just kinda. . . Forgot."

Jerome rolled his eyes. "Sure."

We got to the top of the spiral. At the end of the tunnel was a ladder leading to a small room. We took turns heading up. When I got to the top, I noticed a row of levers on the wall. Zek went over towards the levers and pulled the second, fifth, and seventh ones. The sound of pistons reverberated as the wall in front of me slid down, revealing the outside world. We stepped out into the extreme hills biome.

"This whole place was already here when we found it," said Angel.

Jerome and I exchanged a glance. "The Team Crafted base," we said in unison.

The others looked at us strangely. I quickly explained that we had been looking for a Team Crafted base that had been in the area.

Zek nodded. "That explains why we found a bunch of clothes from you guys in the rooms when we first moved in here a year ago. They're still in a closet somewhere if you guys want them when we get back."

I nodded.

Nelly turned to me. "If Zek takes you back to where he found you guys, can you find your way back to where your friends are?"

Jerome answered for me. "Mitch probably can't, but as a bacca, I can trace our path by scent."

"What are we waiting for?" I asked. "Let's go!"

Shadin POV after a short time skip

Someone was shaking me awake and calling my name softly. I recognized the voice. Mitch.

"Mmmmmfh. . . Five more minutes, Mitch."

The shaking persisted. "C'mon, Shadin. You've gotta wake up now. Please."

My eyes fluttered open. "What do you want?" I mumbled sleepily.

"We have to go."

I looked up at that face that I loved. My sleep muddled mind was a little slow, and I just then realized that Mitch had come back. "When did you get back?"

He looked around. "I'll tell you later, but we've gotta go now. It's your sister. She and Sky have disappeared."

I sat bolt upright, accidentally banging my forehead against Mitch's. "What!?"

He sighed. "I take it you don't know where they went?"

I shook my head. He stood up and offered me his hand. I took it and pulled myself to my feet. Looking around, I noticed we weren't alone. The girl from the prison– Nelly, I think– was talking with Jerome, while a girl with a wolf's ears and tail spoke quietly with Seto. I froze when I saw the last person in the cave. His crimson eyes studied me closely, and his black hair was slicked to the right side, covering most of his eye. I thought I would never see him again.

I laughed at one of my thoughts, and everyone stared at me. "I seem to be making the mistake of thinking I would never see certain people again a lot lately. I really should have learned in these past few days."

Mitch followed my line of sight. "Is Zek another long-lost sibling?"

"Nope. Just an old friend. Who I thought was dead. Wait, did you say Zek?" Mitch nodded. I raised my eyebrows. "You really need to work on your pseudonyms, Jon."

Jon shrugged. "Personally, I thought it was kinda clever."

An awkward silence ensued. I put my hands on my hips. "Well? Are you just going to stand there, Jon?"

He broke out into a grin and strode forward to embrace me.

I put my arms around him and it was not awkward whatsoever. My sister and I had been really close to Jon as children, even though we were four years older than him. He was like a little brother to both of us. There was many a night when Lexia, Jon, Calvin–another of our best friends– and I had gone into the forest to mess around and fallen asleep there, all four of us huddled up. The four of us had done almost everything together, from hunting to swordplay to pulling pranks on the adults.

I was surprised to find that he was a couple inches taller than me. I guess that's what happens when you don't see a person for six years. They change.

The others were still staring, confused. Jon was still hugging me. "Uh, Jon? You can let go now."

He tightened his grip around me in response.

"No," he said playfully.

I sighed and relaxed all my muscles, letting myself go limp. Jon staggered with my deadweight. Finally, he said, "Fine, if that's how you're going to be." He released me. I caught myself and righted my stance.

"That trick works every time with you."

He huffed, but I started talking over his mumbled response.

"I knew Jon before the whole Herobrine thing happened. We were living in the same village. He was the annoying little brother I never had, and I thought that he, like all the others, was dead. Third person in as many days who's proved me wrong."

Jerome shook his head. "And I'm still stuck on the fact that his name is Jon," he said with a grin.

Nelly spoke up. "It's a nice reunion and all, but we still need to find the other two, don't we?"

We all nodded.

"Then lets go!" Jerome shouted.

Ty POV

A girl's voice cut through the silence. "Who are you?"

_No one._

My body was ramrod straight, and a voice that sounded like mine responded, "Enderlox."

"What are you?"

_A monster. A beast. An inhuman creature._

"The humblest servant of His Majesty the Enderdragon."

"Why are you here, Enderlox, humblest servant of his Majesty the Enderdragon?"

_Because some demented author put me here._**(A/N: TY QUIT BREAKING THE FOURTH WALL!)** _Just kidding. Because the world hates me._

"To serve."

Her voice was filled with anger, and the words were harsh. "Wrong answer."

My small portion of me that still was ME cringed as the girl stepped out of the shadows. Her black cloak was billowing about her shoulders as she strode forward, purple and silver bracelet jingling lightly. Her shirt was midnight blue with silver flecks, and yoga pants stretched down to her sneakers. A silver dagger glinted in her pale hand. My eyes moved to her face. Her jaw was set in a hard line, but there was a glimmer of remorse in her violet eyes as she raised the dagger.

**And there you have it! Yet another double cliffie! I hope you like it. *grins* Inspiration is inspirational. Also, while I was writing this I had Ships In The Night by Mat Kearney stuck in my head, so if you haven't heard it, then you should listen to it. It's an amazing song, especially if you're feeling down. Yeah. Go listen to it. Now. Just kidding, you don't have to do anything if you don't want to. Anyhow, I'll see you guys next weekend with another chapter! Angel out!**


	13. Chapter 12

**Hello again peepsles! I'm back (even if this chapter is WAY late)! First off, You guys are all amazing. I mean, over 4000 views? I never even imagined this would get so much attention! Thank you so much. I'd like to apologize in advance because this chapter will get kinda hairy since some of the POVs are happening simultaneously in the story. Which also means lots of POV swaps. Let me know if any of you get confused, and let me know what was confusing, and I will try to explain it. Unless, of course, it includes spoilers. In that case, I will tell you that it will be explained in later chapters. Can't have you guys knowing all my secrets, now can I? And since this is already way late, no review answers today. :(**

**_~I'm just going to put this to see how many of you notice that it isn't actually a piece of wisdom~_**

**Enjoy!**

**Lexia POV**

My head was pounding. A light was being shined in my face as I opened my eyes groggily. The light felt like daggers in my brain. A face was up in my own, looking at my eyes. It was a guy, but I couldn't see any features because the glare from the light behind him was blinding. I groaned, only to realize that a gag was shoved in my mouth. I jerked upright, awake, as everything came rushing back to me. This was done with some difficulty, seeing as there was a dude in my face and my arms were tied behind me, plus I was also bound at the ankle, but my ankles were loose enough that I might be able to manage a shuffle if I were standing.

The man retreated a bit and I was able to see him more clearly. He was maybe a few years older than me, with bright green eyes and red hair. He had a bit of a beard, and he would have been handsome if his eyes weren't so hard. His eyes ran over my body, drinking in every detail, and I felt the sudden urge to hide. I supposed this was meant to mess with my mind. Thing was, it was working.

His eyes met mine, colder than the worst winter. He started talking in a rich voice that reminded me of someone, but I couldn't put my finger on who it was. "That really was clever, dyeing your hair like that. And the tattoos are a nice touch. They almost look real. The eyes are a dead giveaway, though. You're not getting away this time."

I was confused until I remembered what Shadin had said about her run in with some weird general guy. _He thinks I'm Shadin_, I realized with a jolt. Huh. That might prove useful.

I guessed he must be the general, but he held himself with a measured ease that I associated with nobility, not military.

I tried to say, "What do you want?" but it came out more like, "Wvu guh arr vahm?"

He laughed. "You certainly have some spunk. I like that."

I glowered at him. Questions raced through my mind, but I was smart enough not to make a fool of myself again: What the heck am I doing here? What poison was that? What do you want? Where's Sky? Where are we? Who was the dude with the dartgun? Is Sky okay? Do he have food?

Okay, so maybe I need to work on my priorities. But that's not my point.

The guy kept talking. "I'm not sure I ever formally introduced myself. I am Dmitri Alverbachie, General of King Herobrine's army and," He gave me a sidelong look, "a very important person in the kingdom. But that's not the question here. Who, might I ask, are you?" He laughed again. "But you can't answer that right now. So I'll answer it for you: you are Shadin Adrienne Mortis. For the past half-decade, you have disappeared off our grid, presumably with clever disguises like the one you're wearing." Seriously? Did he ever stop to think that maybe it's not a costume?

"You found Mitch, aka BajanCanadian, two years ago under mysterious circumstances, and since then, you two have fiercely defended a particular stretch of woods. That was where the ruins of your old village lay. You lost everything in that fire. Oh, the things you lost in the flames. Things you'll never see again. All that you had amassed sat before you, shattered into ash. And you ran. You ran away, leaving it all to burn." Hearing him list off my twin sister's past experiences as if he were reciting a biography was soundly disturbing, and he seemed to enjoy going on about how screwed up her life got to be after Nordis burned. I didn't like this guy. The way he talked made me squirm, but I suppose that was the desired effect.

"Does it hurt to know that your sister would have survived if you had stayed to help her?" This only confirmed my suspicions that this whole monologue was meant to demoralize and disturb Shadin. This guy had certainly done his reasearch. Unfortunately for him, only some of that stuff he said applied to me. His info was also out-of-date, otherwise he would have known that I was alive and had found my sister. This gave me a moral boost, knowing that we could still surprise him.

"You pose us an interesting problem, Shadin. You see, you were supposed to have died six years ago with your sister and family. I'm not privy to the reasons why, but I do know that your family was the target of the attack. Now, don't go thinking you're all special. There have been other people who weren't supposed to survive, like Mitch. His accident was supposed to be fatal, but some angel or another helped break his fall. Then you found him. You have just screwed up everything! And that's why His Majesty wants to see you. It's a great honor, you know," he said with mock-reverence. Then he scowled. "Herobrine is too vain by half, but still I serve him, and shall do so until the end of my days. I almost feel bad for you. His Majesty is quite fearsome when he's mad, and you have ticked him off very greatly." He turned to a dark-haired man standing in the doorway to my left. They seemed to be communicating with hand signals, but I couldn't make anything of it.

All this time, I said nothing, carefully showing the right emotions at the right times. I figured that maybe impersonating my sister might help for a while, so I would keep up the ruse for now.

I took the time to take in my surroundings. The light was coming from a piece of glowstone situated right in front of my face. We were in an artificial cave. There was an exit to my left, being blocked by the man in the doorway. The cave was about five blocks by four blocks, with walls of stone. I looked hard, but I saw no sign of Sky. Everything seemed absurdly hot, even the floor I sat on.

I almost didn't realize that Alverbachie was once again facing me. He gestured to the man standing in the doorway. "Jorge here is a nasty piece of work. He belongs to a specially trained unit called the Silent Swords. They take a vow of silence when they begin their service, and they're experts on all things poisonous or pointy. It's almost impossible to hear them, too, and King Herobrine likes to use them as his personal kidnappers. That your capture warranted a whole squad of four of them speaks of how much His Majesty wants to see you. You never stood a chance once we knew where to look for you." The man in the doorway made an urgent signal. Alverbachie nodded at him, then started towards the exit. He stopped before he got there and turned back to see me. "As much as I would love to stay and chat with you, I need to go now. Pressing matters and such."

With that, he snapped his fingers and disappeared, leaving me alone in the room with the silent man.

The silent man, Jorge, came over to me. I say "came" because he seemed to glide, not walk. Jorge roughly grabbed my shoulder and hoisted me up to my feet. Damn, this guy was strong.

He placed me on my feet and grabbed ahold of the bindings on my wrists. Jorge turned around and began dragging me along behind him as he made for the exit. I dug in my heels and started to struggle. Jorge turned around and slapped me hard across my face, bringing tears to my eyes. Not that I haven't had worse, but it stung. He fixed me with an icy stare. Slowly, he lifted a finger to his neck and drew it across. The message was clear: you resist, and I kill you, no matter what the other guy said. I shakily nodded my understanding, and Jorge turned and continued bringing me towards the door.

Outside, I saw three other guys who looked almost exactly like Jorge. They stood so still that I almost thought they were statues at first. Then I realized how ridiculous it would be to have three random statues in the middle of nowhere. That's where we were. Nowhere. To the right, featureless desert. To the left, featureless desert. Everywhere, featureless desert. The only landmark for as far as I could see was the small dune I was just dragged out of. Even that looked man made. Of course it was. What natural dune had a four-by-five stone room in the middle of them?

Jorge picked me up by my throat, cutting off my air supply. For a few seconds he looked like he was considering just letting me suffocate, but then he thought differently. He carried me to the side of the dune, threw me to the ground with a scowl, and turned to go, uh, communicate with the others. I groaned through the gag and rolled onto my back, wishing with all my might that I could massage my throat. Something nudged my leg. I looked for the source to see Sky, his sunglasses lost sometime earlier. His bright green eyes searched my own, so much softer than Alverbachie's. He saw the red handprint forming on my face and the bruises blooming where Jorge had picked me up by my neck, and his eyes widened in concern. I shook my head sadly. I wasn't okay, and I wasn't about to pretend like I was. From the neck up, everything hurt. My scar-tattoo-thing was stinging. I had a pounding headache. And to add insult to injury, my least favorite memory–the burning of Nordis–had just been brought up. I was getting so tired, but pain does that to a person. I knew the weariness that comes from pain, though. This felt. . . different somehow. Suddenly, my left arm felt like it was on fire again. I screamed into the gag. That was definitely not normal pain. The four Silent Swords looked at me, startled. Sky grunted in surprise, staring at me. Maybe it was because of the pain, or maybe it was because of the indescribable weariness it brought, but I was quite confused. What were they looking at? I followed their gazes to my arm. Why were the tattoos glowing? Somewhere in my muddled brain, I made a connection.

_So that's what Shadin meant._

The world went black once again.

Shadin POV

We decided that splitting up would be the best way to do this. Nelly, Jerome, and Zek would be in one group, while the rest of us were the other. Nelly and Seto could communicate telepathically, apparently, so the groups would be in touch. Now we just had to decide which group went where.

"They probably went searching for you two," said Angel, looking at Mitch and Jerome, "so one of our groups should check that way."

Jerome nodded. "My group can, since I might be able to pick up a scent trail. What about you guys?"

"I dunno. I guess we'll look around," I said. With that, we split up and went our separate ways.

Mitch grabbed my hand and I winced. He gave me a reproachful look. "You haven't been resting your hand, have you?" When I didn't reply, he sighed. "It's not going to get better if you keep using it, you know."

I grimaced. "It's not fun, though! Plus there's that whole 'saving the world' thing going on."

His eyebrows arched skeptically. "The world has waited this long. It can wait for you to heal."

I sighed. "Okay. I'll get it looked at again."

As Mitch and I walked in back, hand in hand, Angel and Seto were up front, talking softly. They weren't being quite as quiet as they thought they were. I could hear every word of their conversation.

"So you're really a wolf hybrid?" my brother asked.

"Yup," replied Angel. "I can change into a wolf at will, which is really nice for fighting, especially since I can fly."

"Wait, you can fly?"

"Yeah, my wolf form has wings."

"That's so cool," breathed Seto.

Mitch stopped abruptly beside me, his hand jerking out of mine. I looked over at him, concerned. He looked quite confused by something. He raised both his hands to waist level. They stopped about six inches from his torso. His lips were moving, but I couldn't hear what he was saying. I raised my hands to his, only to find that something stopped them about an inch from Mitch's hands.

"Mitch? Mitch!"

I pounded on the invisible wall, but the only thing I succeeded in was making a dull thud sound. Mitch looked like he took a fist to the gut, doubling over. Suddenly, he flew back as if shot from a bow. He hit the ground and crumpled. I screamed his name.

I heard a sharp intake of breath behind me, and suddenly Seto was beside me, his back pressed against the wall and an expression of pure terror on his face. I turned around to see what would terrify him that much, expecting to see Herobrine himself. Instead, there was a girl with knee-length brown hair with gray stripes, silver eyes, and a moon gem under her left eye. She wore a white cloak, a moon necklace, a blue undershirt, jeans, and white flats.

Angel grinned. "Hey, Moonlight! Wasn't expecting to see you here. How have you been?"

The girl smiled back. "I'm doing better. What about you? I heard you joined some rebels."

Angel nodded. "It's been good. I have a lot of new friends."

The other girl–Moonlight–smiled. "That's great! As much as I would love to keep talking, I need to deliver a message. Gimme a second." She turned to my brother and rolled her eyes. "Relax, Seto. I'm not here to hurt you guys."

Seto didn't look convinced. His chest was still heaving.

Moonlight sighed. "I left Herobrine's service. Happy?"

"You– you– you–" For the first time I'd ever seen, Seto stuttered.

"Oh, you're hopeless." She turned her gaze to me. "I'm sorry about your friend in the hoodie–" she made a face"–but I don't associate with people like him anymore. I don't think we've met. My name is Moon Shine, but I want you to call me Moonlight. That's what my friends call me. And you are?"

I narrowed my eyes. "Shadin. Seto's sister. And what do you mean, people like him?"

Her eyebrows shot up. "Seto never told me he had a sister. Oh well. And your friend is just someone I wouldn't trust. Nothing personal. But that's a matter for another day. You are the one I'm looking for, are you not?"

Now it was my turn to be confused. "What do you mean?"

Seto seemed to regain his composure. He stepped in front of me protectively. "I know what you're thinking, and no, she's not. Now if you'll excuse us, we need to go find our friends."

Moonlight shook her head. "Notch is taking care of them. What I have to say us more important. Now would you like to hear what I have to say or not?"

"No, we would not!" answered Seto.

"I wasn't talking to you. I was speaking to Shadin. She's a big girl, and she can make her own decisions."

Seto turned to me. "Don't listen to–"

I cut him off with a wave of my hand. "Say what you came to say, and I'll judge it for myself."

Moonlight straightened up. "You are in danger, Shadin."

"Tell me something I don't know," I responded dryly.

She shrugged. "You are very important to Herobrine. Do you know why?"

I frowned and shook my head. Seto was glaring with all his might at Moonlight. She continued, "I'm guessing you never were told what the 'magical incident' was when you were younger. Let me tell you a story."

I was a bit skeptical, but I motioned for her to continue, despite my brother's protests.

"This starts a long time ago. Like, when Notch and Herobrine were still teenagers. There was an elite group of monks whose name has been forgotten. They had the gift–or curse, as it might be–of foresight. To put it plainly, they could see the future. The problem was, the constant visions drove them insane, bit by bit. They also bickered over interpretations, and their insanity made it nearly impossible to speak in anything other than riddles and rhymes. The group eventually was killed by Herobrine, who had been looking, as always, for power. He was looking for any proof that he would rule Minecraftia. He was unsatisfied with the prophecies that he found. The last prophecy the group ever made–and the only one they all agreed on–spoke of the fall of the demon king. I believe the prophecy refers to you and your sister. I'll tell you it now, and then I'll leave, and you can make what you will of it.

"In the shadow of an eternal twilight, a child will be born on the darkest night. By this prophecy, at man's longest hour, they will be the balance of the ancient power. The two who are one, the dark and the light, shall be split apart on a fiery night. Worlds away, the two shall stay, until the stars have faded away. The dark and the light will walk the same path, yet separate ends the broken one hath. One to rule, one to live. One to fight, one to give. Should their quest fail or burn, the universe to chaos shall turn. A shattered force they must repair, lest they break in evil's stare. A traitor, a, ah, illegitimate child, and a beast shall be found, unbeknownst to all around. An exiled king shall take to wing to aid them in their journeying. Before the murderous demon lord may die by the chosen's diamond sword, the golden throne's one true heir love's last and final toll must bear. Even then, the Ones may fall , for demon's blood runs deeper than all.

"Now that you've heard that, I need to go converse with a certain Fallen angel. Oh, and don't worry about Lexia and Adam. They'll be fine. Notch is making sure of that."

With that, Moonlight waved her fingertips and faded into the gloom.

"What the heck was that all about?" I asked.

Angel shook her head. "It's her pet theory, and she used to always talk about it. I'm not buying it, though. It talks about one person, not two. And to my knowledge, you two don't have any special powers, do you?"

I shrugged. "Not that I know of."

Seto was pale and silent.

"Seto?" Angel asked. "You okay?"

He shook his head. "No, I'm not. I just came face to face with the person who– who–" He collapsed into a fit of shaking.

Angel and I exchanged a glance.

"I'll go find the others," she said. I nodded, but she had already morphed into a wolf and taken off running.

Sky POV

I woke up with a face full of sand. It's funny, the first thing I realized was that my shades were missing. Huh. Guess that's how much I'm used to them. I sneezed, only to realize that my mouth had a gag shoved in it. I reached up to itch my nose, but yet again, I found that it was impossible.

What? Where was I? Last thing I remembered was running away from Lexia, and now I'm here. What the heck happened?

I picked up my head, looking around. I was lying face-first in a giant desert. I rolled onto my back and found that I was next to the only dune in sight. Three identical guys stood, looking at a spot on the dune I couldn't see. I heard a muffled voice coming from inside the dune, but I couldn't make out what it was saying. There was a snap, then silence. A resounding smack came from inside the dune, then out came a dude that looked like the other men. He was dragging something – or, rather, someone. My heart leapt as I saw her face. It was Lexia. She didn't seem to see me, though. The guy lifted her up by her neck and threw her on the ground beside me.

I looked over to her, only to see her trying to push back tears. Whatever that guy did, he was going to pay for it when I got loose. I saw a red handprint appearing on her face, and I knew her throat couldn't be comfortable. I met her eyes, and she shook her head. My fists balled in rage.

That's when I saw something strange.

The scar-tattoos on Lexia's arm were shining. Like, bright purple and glowing.

It took me a second to put two and two together. This must be the whole "energy draining" thing. It took another second to realize, Oh, shit, that's not good!

The four guys were also staring.

At this point, Lexia completely passed out. I started panicking. Shit! What if this kills her?

There was a strangled, gurgling sound coming from one of our normally-silent guards. I whipped around to see the tip of a dagger sprouting from one of their throats. It was the guy who had dragged Lexia out of the dune. His companions looked on, astonished, as a girl stepped out from behind the dying man. Their surprise quickly turned to rage. As one, they drew obsidian swords from their belts. The girl raised one eyebrow. "Really? Is that all you got?"

She pulled out a pair iridescent short swords. I could barely follow what happened next. All I saw was a blur of swords and a few spurts of blood, and the three men were decapitated. The girl didn't even look winded. Then she turned towards me and Lexia.

She was short, with flowing red hair and green eyes. She was wearing a tight black tank top and yoga pants.

She rushed to Lexia and I. "No! I got here too late!"

I mumbled something through the gag. She noticed me and undid the gag. "Try that again."

I said, "Who are you?"

She shook her head. "Not important now. Do you know who the link is to?"

"What do you mean? Oh, the rune link thing? No."

She cursed. "I can't do anything, then. She'll have to ride this one out. My spell won't work if I don't know who she's linked to." She sat back on her heels and began undoing the knots that bound my limbs. When she finished, she moved on to Lexia's bindings.

As I tried to return circulation to my fingers, I tried again to ask who she was. This time, I actually got an answer.

"I'm Hallie."

"Nice to meet you, Hallie. I'm–"

"I know who you are, Sky."

I was taken aback. She glanced up at my face and gave me a half-smile.

"I was kinda sent by Notch, so I know a lot."

Oh. That explained a few things.

Before I could comment, Hallie went on. "We need to get you back to your friends, and fast. Come on. Can you carry Lexia?"

I nodded and heaved Lexia's limp form over my shoulder. She seemed lighter than the day of the wolf attack. I remembered I couldn't even pick her up then, but now she was light as a feather. That didn't bode well.

Ty POV

Consciousness came slowly. For a while, I felt like I was floating in limbo. It was at least ten minutes before I decided that, yes, I was awake. I pried open one eyelid, testing my free will. Okay. The dark presence – Enderlox – seemed to be slumbering an a deep corner of my brain. I opened my other eye and tried to prop myself up on my elbows, which was harder than it seemed because of my two giant wings. Yeah, still getting used to my situation. I was in an unfamiliar place, but I could see that I was still in the End. Iron chains were attached to my wrists and ankles, but I could still move around. The ground seemed colder than I remembered. I looked down at my torso and realized that that was probably because I wasn't wearing a shirt. My chest was a lot different than I remember. Not that I spent a lot of time looking at my chest before, but these things were unmistakeable. A brand new scar crossed from my stomach all the way up to my shoulder. How the heck did I heal that fast? Maybe. . . Could it have anything to do with the wings or Enderlox? Another new thing was the pattern of swirls inked onto my torso. They looked incomplete, for some reason.

Before I could wonder any more about that, footsteps echoed from somewhere behind me.

A sigh of exasperation soon followed. "Lay back down! I'm not done yet!" It was the voice of the girl who had had the silver dagger. The new scar on my chest gave an unhappy twinge as I recalled what had happened. The dagger had swung down across my chest, and I lost consciousness soon thereafter, possibly by something on the dagger itself. I could have sworn that the girl had whispered, "I'm sorry," as she sliced me open.

Now, she strode over to me. Crouching down, she pressed me back into a horizontal position. "Stay like that, or you'll make this a lot harder for both of us. I don't want to hurt you."

I sat back up again. "No! Who are you, and what are you doing?"

She sighed. "If I had known you were going to be this annoying, I would have loaded you up on sedatives. Now lay back down so I can finish!"

I crossed my arms. "No. Answer my questions."

She rolled her eyes. "I'm Lunaria, or just Luna, and right now, I'm giving you a few runes, by orders of the Ender Dragon himself. Now will you lay down?"

"What do you mean?"

She sighed. "I mean exactly what I said. I have steadier hands than any Enderman, and orders from up above say that you need a certain set of runes."

I narrowed my eyes. "What do they do?"

She grinned. "Beats me! Now will you please lay down?" When I stayed upright, her grin disappeared. "Don't make me call the guards on you."

I sighed and stretched out on my back again. Lunaria nodded her head in thanks.

She went to a chest in the room and pulled out some things. When I saw what she was holding, I felt the blood drain from my face. "I don't like needles."

She turned back to me. "If you want me to, I can put you to sleep again, but that would mean wasting precious time without Enderlox being in control."

She must have seen my face, because she got this skeptical look on her face. "What? You think it was just a coincidence that you're the one in control? Nope! That doesn't happen without a special herb or a huge rush of emotion. And I decided you might want some freedom, I added a bit of the herb to the mixture I used on my dagger."

My heart sank with those words. That meant I would never be normal again. Of course, to some extent, I had already known that, but hearing the words drove the point home. Hard.

Oblivious to my internal conflict, Luna went on. "Sorry about that, by the way. Ender Dragon's orders. You healed up quite nicely, though. I take it you want to stay awake?"

I numbly nodded, and Luna went to work with her needle and ink. I bit back a cry.

(~-Time skip-~)

By the time Luna was done, my entire torso was extremely sore.

Luna leaned back and exhaled. "That should do it. I suppose I should give you a crash course on runes now. For this specific set, you can activate them with a short incantation. Only you, though. If anyone else says it, it won't do squat. The words are _thelduin du ládrin yawë_. I can honestly say that I don't know what it means or does. Do you want to test it out?"

I think she was saying that mostly our of her own curiosity, but I have to admit, I was curious, too. I stumbled over the incantation the first few times, but after a few tries, I got it down pretty well.

"_Thelduin du ládrin yawë._"

The tattoos started glowing a bright green. "Is that normal?"

She nodded. "In my scant experience with runes, yes, it is."

I nodded. I could definitely feel something now. I felt power coursing through my veins. I felt like I could take on the world and win. I felt. . . Amazing. I reveled in my newfound power, letting my pain wash away. I could get used to this.

I stood up and snarled. There was something on my wrists and ankles.

Someone was yelling at me. I brushed them aside as if they were a fly. These chains? I snapped them with a flick of my wrist. The person was still yelling at me. "Hey! Snap out of it! You don't seem like the you you were a few seconds ago! I guess the old saying is true! Absolute power corrupts absolutely!"

I was about to eliminate the source of the nagging, but I caught myself. Those last words really struck me. Was this really who I had become? I was no better than Enderlox. I didn't want to be this person. I had a problem, though. I didn't know how to stop this power influx.

_That's okay, this is—_

_No! I won't let the power take over again._

"Luna, how do I stop this?"

She breathed a sigh of relief. "I finally got to you. Just think about it stopping. I dunno what works for you. It's different for everyone."

I thought hard. "Nope. Still there."

"Try visualizing something."

I thought of a faucet. I don't know why, so don't ask. I pictured a faucet spewing water. Then I pictured myself turning off the water flow.

I let out a sigh as I felt myself return to normal. I grimaced as my pain returned, but this was better than being drunk on power. I looked down. The runes had stopped glowing. I sank to my knees.

The darkness was waking up again. I vaguely heard Luna say something to the extent of, "The herb is gonna wear off in a few seconds, so bye for now."

**That took quite a while to write. Again, sorry its late, but I made it longer, just for you guys. If you have any questions, let me know, since this was a long, somewhat confusing chapter. Also, if you found the semi-reference, you are amazing. And I don't own the language the incantation came from. Bai!**


	14. Chapter 13

**Wazzup, peepsles!? It's Angel here! Wait a second, Angel updating on time? Get to the Apocalypse shelters, because that _never _happens! On another note, I've decided that review responses will only be in response to direct questions. Sorry, guys. I already have a hard enough time with life. I might say something about your comment in the author's notes, but if you want an assured response, leave a direct question. Anyhow, let's get to it! And no more words of wisdom, since no one seemed to care or notice that they were different last chapter. Now, questions (unless you're reading this from Quotev and I've answered yours directly)!**

**Emde13: No, you may not flip tables yet, especially since I'm updating today for _you. _**

**And now, onto the story!**

Shadin POV

By about five minutes later, Seto had simply curled up into a ball and refused to talk. He stopped shaking, but he was silent, his eyes squeezed closed. Occasionally, he would mutter something indecipherable. I couldn't really do anything for him, and that made me feel worse than I can describe.

Now, don't go thinking that I forgot about Mitch. Because I didn't. He had gone flying about twenty feet away. After assuring myself that Seto wasn't in any immediate danger, I moved to where Mitch lay. He was sprawled on the ground, unmoving. I brushed his hair out of his face and held my hand just below his nostrils. He was breathing, but only faintly. A large bump was already forming on the back of his head. Ouch. That couldn't be comfy. I peeled back his eyelids just a bit. Shit. His pupils were dilated. That couldn't be good.

I've done this before. The thought sent chills down my spine. This is almost the exact same thing I did when I first found Mitch. I really hoped he wouldn't lose his memory this time. My heart was hoping, but at the same time, my gut was sinking.

I pushed back tears. I couldn't stand to see him like this again.

I was shaken from my thoughts by the sound of Angel arriving with the others. I stood up, walking over to meet them. "Seto's really shaken up, and he doesn't seem to hear me. Angel, do you think you could talk to him?" She nodded.

"I'll see what I can do." She walked over to where Seto was curled up.

I turned to Jerome, Zek, and Nelly. "Mitch is in bad shape, too. I think he might have a concussion, and he's unconscious. I don't remember all my first aid, but I'm pretty sure that's not a good sign."

Jerome's eyes widened as he shook his head. "No, it's not." He rushed over to where Mitch lay and knelt beside his friend, cradling his head in his great furry hands.

Nelly put a hand to her temple and frowned, her eyes closed. She nodded once. She opened her eyes after a second. "AJ wants us back at base ASAP. We've already got too much to deal with. I'm sorry. I know that you want to go after your friends, but–"

"No," I stated. "I've already made my decision. I'm going after them."

Nelly sighed. "Shadin, I know you're not really familiar with our–"

"I don't care about your protocols, or whatever!" I snapped. "Lexia isn't just my friend. She's my sister. Even more, my twin. I already left her behind once, and I'm not doing it again."

After a brief moment of looking surprised, Jon put his hand on my shoulder. I shrugged it off, a hurt expression on my face. "You too, Jon? You're telling me you don't want to go look for them?" Nelly scooted away slowly, giving us some space.

He paused for a minute, weighing his words. Huh. He never used to do that. "Shadin," he began. "I know that this is really hard for you. It is for me too. I want to go look for them, too."

"Then why don't–?"

He held up his hand. "This is really stressful on both of us. It's hard to think in times like this. But just look around. Your brother is in no condition to do anything, and neither is Mitch. They need help. We're not giving up on Lexia or Sky. I promise. We will find them. We just need to rest a bit, get ready so that we can actually do them good. You're not leaving them behind. You're regrouping so that you can save them. Let us help you, so that you don't go and throw your life away on some stupid decision."

"But it's my decision to make," I protested.

"But that decision affects more people than just you! Don't you think Mitch would care if you got killed because you tried to do this without being ready?" His eyes softened. "Don't you think I would?"

Both ways would hurt me more than I can say in words. I felt like a huge scar on my heart just got ripped wide open again. By this time, tears were streaming down my face. My voice got so quiet that I could barely hear myself. "Jon, do you have any idea what I've been through in the past six years? I made a huge mistake, and I paid for it every day. Don't make me do it again. Please. If anything happened to them, it would tear me apart from the inside. Please don't make me make this decision." Either way, I would probably fall apart. My eyes pleaded with him, though I'm not sure which side I was pleading for.

Jon wiped my tears away and pulled me into a hug. "Then you don't have to. I'll make it for you, and that way, if anything happens, it's on my shoulders, not yours," he whispered to me. I nodded. "We go back to the base. Okay?" I straightened up, wiped my face, and nodded.

I don't remember too much from what happened next. I think Angel finally got Seto to stand up and walk, even if he still wouldn't say anything coherent. Jerome was carrying Mitch.

I'm not quite sure how it happened, but we ended up in front of a hillside with a large opening in it. If possible, Seto got even paler when we arrived. "No," he whispered. Angel leaned over to say something quietly to him, but he didn't relax much.

There were two people, a guy and a girl, standing outside, waiting for us. The guy was vaguely familiar. I think he was a celebrity of some sort before the whole Herobrine thing happened. His eyes widened as he saw Mitch and Seto. "Hey. You guys don't look too good. You need some help?"

Zek nodded. "I think Mitch needs medical attention badly."

The man nodded. "Nelly, can you please take Mitch and Jerome to the infirmary?"

Nelly nodded and motioned for Jerome to come with her. I moved to follow, but Jon's hand on my arm stopped me. "Wait," he mouthed.

Angel piped up. "I don't think Seto's in any condition to be questioned right now, even if that is procedure."

The man took another look at Seto and the way his eyes looked wide and unfocused, and he nodded. "Take him down to my quarters and make him comfortable."

Angel and Seto went into the opening, leaving me, Zek, and the two strangers.

Finally, the man turned to address me. "Hi. I'm Jordan, also known as Captainsparklez. And you are?" he asked, holding out his hand.

"Shadin," I murmured as I shook his hand. He had a firm handshake and a warm smile. I was glad that he wasn't one of those people with a handshake like a wet fish.

The girl studied me for a minute before extending her hand. "I'm AJ." When I took her hand, instead of shaking it, she pulled me into a hug. She grinned when she released me. "Sorry, you just looked in dire need of a hug."

Jordan glared at her playfully. "AJ, I swear, you like scaring the new recruits."

She shrugged. "It's true. Trolling people is fun! I hope I didn't scare you too much, Shadin."

"I'm okay," I said. "To tell the truth, I did need a hug."

"See, Jordan? I know these things!" She gave him a smug grin. He rolled his eyes, but he was smiling. AJ went on. "It's standard procedure for everyone who we accept to go through a short series of questions, so if you'll follow me, we can get that over with."

I looked at Jon. He gave me a small nod, and I followed AJ into the depths of the tunnel.

Daybreak POV

Spying got really boring some days. I never got very close to anyone for long because if I did, I ran the risk of being caught. That wouldn't end well for anyone.

Today, I was on the rotation of guards that stand inside Herobrine's throne room. I always got a bit nervous in this job, since I can never tell if Herobrine is looking at me through those white eyes of his. In all my experience here, he is the single person better at hiding his thoughts than me. If you think you know what he's thinking, that's because he wants you to. He gives me the shivers.

Today was a pretty normal day so far. A few of his captains had reported to him. They wanted fewer zombies in their units, or a reward for some person they captured. Nothing new there. Something did feel off, though. There was a tension in the air.

An attendant whispered something in Herobrine's ear. The demon-king nodded slowly. His fist was clenched and he appeared to be brooding deeply. That was the Herobrine equivalent of throwing something across the room.

Into the room walked a tall man in an officer's uniform. I recognized him as one of Herobrine's generals. Alverbachie, I think his name was. Or at least that's what everyone called him. Some strange rumors have flown around the barracks about him, and I had a feeling I was about to have a few more to pass around by tonight.

That is, if I was still around. Even though Herobrine is a master at hiding his emotions, he was prone to exploding in anger, occasionally vaporizing a guard or two. I gulped.

Alverbachie had his head down, and he looked scared.

"Your Majesty?"

Herobrine's fist unclenched and he slowly met Alverbachie's eyes. Or at least, I think he did. "Yes, Dmitri?"

Alverbachie quavered under Herobrine's cold gaze. "I– I have news."

"Of course you do." Herobrine's voice was quiet, yet commanding.

Alverbachie grew pale. "We captured the girl." His voice was surprisingly firm.

Herobrine's lips tugged into a slight smile. "And where did you find her?"

"Your Silent Swords found her, Your Grace. An extreme hills biome, from their reports. They have her under guard in the desert."

"I want to make sure you have the right girl. What did she look like?" He wore a smug grin now. That didn't bode well. If he were actually happy, he wouldn't have shown it. He was toying with Alverbachie.

Apparently Alverbachie noticed this as well. His eyes widened more and any confidence he had evaporated. "Sir? She had one blue eye and one split between red and silver. Her hair was dyed black, and she had a long string of tattoos running down her arm. That is the girl, right? Shadin Mortis?"

Herobrine stood, chuckling quietly. Shit. "Oh, Dmitri. You sad little fool. Even so, you do have your uses. You have given me a very important piece of information. No, that was not the girl. It was her twin sister, Lexia. But she is equally important to us. Where did you say she was?"

Alverbachie saluted. As if that would save him from Herobrine. "The desert, sir. Under the guard of Jorge and his squad."

Herobrine's fists clenched. Alverbachie clutched at his throat as if he was choking. "You mean the squad that was killed earlier today?"

Herobrine's calm tone of voice shattered. Now he was shouting at the top of his lungs, making the whole room shake. "You imbecile! You let her escape! You knew she was on the top of my priority list, yet you left her. You left her! And now, because of you and your arrogance, both the Mortis twins are at large! They will destroy all that we have built!" With every word, Alverbachie rose another inch into the air. Herobrine's voice lowered once again, this time simmering with contempt and rage. "You are a sorry excuse for a son." Wait, what? "Now that you have let this problem get out of hand, you will be the one to fix it. And if not, well. . . You know what happens."

That was news to me. From all that I'd seen, Herobrine had no living relatives.

Alverbachie was flung against the back wall of the throne room. My eyes widened as he got up, saluted, and left the room. That impact should have snapped his neck. Especially at that angle. Wow, maybe he was Herobrine's son after all.

Herobrine was still simmering with anger as he turned to me and the other guards who lined the walls. "Get out. Now."

We weren't stupid. We got the hell out of there before you could say "craft."

While the other guards went to let our commanding officers know that Herobrine wasn't to be disturbed, I slipped off to the barracks. It had been weeks since I had sent a message to the rebels, and this was something I was certain they would want to hear about.

My cat, Sunset, meowed in greeting as I walked in. I stroked her head as I started a letter to AJ and the rebels. When I was done, I pulled out a stolen fish from my pocket and gave it to Sunset. She purred as she ate it, then I gave her the letter. This was how I got messages to them. I have no clue why, but Sunset could always find the rebels, even when they had changed locations. I let her out a window, then I moved to leave the barracks.

I opened the door, only to come face-to-face with my commanding officer.

**And that's it for today! New POV, more cliffhangers, and things like that! And yes, ZZefyre, now that you say it, it does scarily resemble the Mortal Instruments series. 0.0**

**Anyhow, see you peepsles later!**


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